> Sword of Equestria: A Sword of the Stars II Crossover
>  by ForceUser
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> With Sword
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sword of Equestria: A Sword of the Stars II Crossover



Chapter 1: With Sword


In space, no one can year you scream.

Unfortunately if your enemies are genetically engineered, psionically enhanced marsupials from hell with every fibre of their being bent on your total annihilation, you can most certainly hear them scream.

Rene Desoto grimaced as the latest wave of psionic screams echoed in her and her crew's heads on board the SolForce Flagship Indomitable. She scanned the enemy armada arrayed before her with an experienced eye and picked out the lead Zuul ship on her console. As one force the forward elements of the 23rd Combat Fleet, with the Indomitable at the tip of the spear, opened fire with immense firepower. Their own psi corpse were doing all they could to stem the tide against the psionic assault but she knew if they didn't do something fast, they would be overwhelmed.

The war, full war at least, has been raging for a 'mere' 9 months. Desoto laughed bitterly to herself; in a 'mere' 9 months they had lost 3 undefended colonies and the prised SFS Leviathan but this time it would be different. This would mark the first actual engagement where the full force of the technologically superior Sol Force and her allies would face off against the Zuul horde. 'This war has been a long time coming', Rene thought, 'and this time we are ready!'


Oo00oO


With a start Rene woke covered in cold sweat as the fragments of her dream -memory?- dissipated from her foggy mind that futilely tried to grasp at the last strings of the dream. Instinctively her right arm twitched from the dream and a sharp pain shot throughout her body along her spinal cord and finally straight into her head. Lying dead still she tried another avenue of sensory input; opening her eyes. Unfortunately the only sight greeting her was no sight whatsoever, just a blackness so deep she doubted her eyes were even open at all. As the drug-numbed nerves throughout her body slowly shook off the effect the painkillers she was under the pain returned as well, increasing in pace with her awakening mind. A pained groan passed over her lips but even the sound of her own voiced got engulfed in the seemingly endless darkness around her, the sound merely reverberating in her head.

'That's another sense that seems to be on the fritz', she managed through the pain filled haze in her mind. Instinctively she fell back on her SolForce training and meditation to calm herself, trying to collect her wits and assess what basic functions still worked. Just as she started to get a grasp on what few nerves were not slowly being burned out by the pain she felt a small pin prick, like a needle, on her arm and the warm feeling of unconsciousness embracing her again.


Oo00oO


"...I repeat! Attention all ships, this is Captain Rene Desoto of the SolForce Flagship Indomitable.” A blood streaked and limping Rene picked herself up from the heavily damaged and smoking bridge, grimacing as she tried to put weight on her left leg. Calmly continuing her mayday call into her comm badge, “To all surviving SolForce and allied ships, make best speed to Sirius A shipyards.”

Rene took a deep breath before continuing, “Warn SolForce, the Suul'ka Bloodweaver has joined the battle.” Inwardly she shuddered. A Suul'ka was the single most terrifying creature known to SolForce, an ancient multi kilometer long creature of pure hate and malice. The stakes just got a lot higher.

Rene tapped a few buttons, cringing at the three, probably four broken ribs pressing into her side with every breath. Setting the message to broadcast on repeat through all fleet bands to all allied ships she looked up to check on the damage on her own bridge as a few scattered bridge officers slowly picked themselves up. The latest torpedo barrage from the Suul’ka led Zuul forces caught them by surprise and left far too many crewmen slumped over their consoles or unmoving on the floor.

Looking down at her monitor, the warning for more incoming torpedoes flashed urgently across the screen...


Oo00oO


As consciousness slowly encroached upon her dreams/memories again, they faded and became frustratingly fragmented. This time though there was far less pain and the sounds of the all too familiar beep of medical machinery were slowly coming into focus as her hearing asserted itself. Trying to open her eyes once more she felt the rough edges of the gauss bandages keeping her eyes closed shift over her face. 'So much for seeing where I am', she though ruefully.

Taking a deep a breath she winced as the broken ribs press into her side. 'Alright so the broken ribs are real, memories then, not dreams.' Taking a slow and measured breath, as deep as she could, she tried to focus on all her senses, mentally ticking them off one by one. The first thing she noticed is the slow and rhythmic sound of the artificial respirator as well as a second medical station. 'Two machines, that must mean I am in one of the Med-bays on the ship.' Her ship.

While feeling a bit more relaxed at being in a familiar and safe place and the ship still being in one piece, a frown formed on her face. Something seemed out of place, something very important. A sense of dread slowly covered her heart in ice as she focused more on her sense of touch. Specifically she focused on the alarmingly absent hum and vibrations of the familiar antimatter engines. The engines were never turned off on a ship -especially one of this size- and as every space captain knew; a ship without an engine was a soon to be dead ship.

The only possible explanation that she could think of was that they must have made planet fall. Thing was, as rare as it was for even cruiser sized ships to make any kind of planet fall, Dreadnought class ships would be destroyed on impact and the Indomitable would probably not even survive re-entry. 'Well, there are no sirens blaring so I guess I will have to trust my crew to handle whatever situation we're in.' She had one of the best, handpicked crew in SolForce. This thought brought some comfort to Rene. 

Deciding to focus on her immediate situation, she tried to shift from her position of lying on her side. No matter how she shifted though she couldn't get a comfortable position on the bed, as if the bed was made for an alien body rather than her own human form. Before she could follow that train of thought or explore her surrounding fully she heard the soft tap-tap-tap-tap of what by all accounts sounded like a horse on a hard surface slowly growing loader.

Trying to croak out a word she was answered with silence from both herself and her surroundings.

Her ears twitched 'twitch? ears don't twitch.' as the med-bay door slid open with near silence. A sense of apprehension slowly eroded what little of her mental barriers she has been able to rebuild since waking as the tap-tap-tap-tap grew closer.

“Captain?” A timid yet kind little voice toned, originating from somewhere lower to where Rene would expect it to come, “um, Re- Rene?”

Suddenly the burning sensation in her chest forced Rene to exhaled the breath she had been holding. With a relieved sigh, though still not sure what exactly was going on, Rene tried to speak with a voice that cracked with disuse, “ye-” *cough* “Yes.” 

A small squeak emanated from where the voice was earlier, sounding... happy, “Oh my goodness, I am so glad you're finally awake Ren- I mean Captain," With that the scraping of a chair being pulled closer could be heard. The voice of the Captains's caretaker, now in a higher and more normal spatial position rang out with obvious relief, "we were all so worried.”

Rene frowned, trying to place the voice. While it's nearly impossible to remember every face and voice on a ship as big as the Indomitable, the voice did sound awfully familiar but a lot softer and even more timid than she remembered.

Her thoughts were shattered as a shock of panic shot through her as a she felt something soft and furry touched her shoulder "Who... what are you!?"

She felt the furry thing quickly withdraw "Oh dear, I’m so sorry Captain! It’s me Dr Florence Singh. You remember me right?" The captain could hear the panic and fatigue in the small voice, "Oh please remember me... so much has happened this last week that you were unconscious and I was so worried.” 

The captain breathed a sigh of relief. Yes she remembered the kind hearted Doctor very well but she definitely did not remember her being soft and... furry. She smiled regardless and with a slight nod simply said, "Yes."

A small "Yey" escaped from the doctor. “You remember me? Um, I mean we were worried you'd have memory loss, you had an awfully hard bump on the head.”

Rene allowed a small smile to play over her face. "Of course I'd remember my favorite medic, you just sounded a bit different is all." In fact It'd be hard to forget the kind Doctor, she had made a definite impression on the Captain at their first meeting on earth space dock. A flash of a memory -the Doctor slumped over her console- quickly brought a worried frown to the Captains face.

“How are you feeling Doc? Last thing I remember you were slumped over your console on the bridge.”

“Oh I'm alright,” The doctor said softly, “but thank you for worrying. It wasn't anything serious.”

Still feeling uncomfortable on her side, the captain turned her body to lie on her back. A blinding pain shot through her body and caused her to yelp out in pain "Ouch!"

"Oh no!” Florence said with concern, helping the captain back on to her side, “Looks like you'll need to lie on your side for a bit longer, your um… well your back was hurt in the landing and it’s caused some complications. We're weren't even sure you’d make it." The captain winced as she was lowered back on to her side.

Faintly Rene heard another set of tap-tap-tap-tap steps in the distance and again the soft and furry thing touching her arm.

"Captain, I have to give you some sedatives now. Please get some rest," Slowly the captain felt the all too familiar effect of the sedatives taking hold and the faint voice of the doctor growing even fainter, "everything will be fi-”


Oo00oO


“Captain! Another wave of Torpedoes are incoming on the fleeing ships,” the strain and fatigue of battle creeping into the Lt.’s voice.

“Lt. Belle what's the status of the starboard point defense systems?” The Captain said with a pained voice as her broken ribs bit into her side.

“They are 87% operational ma'am,” the Lt. tapped a few consoles with growing concern but her face showing none of the strain, “but the starboard armour matrix has taken multiple breaches; we can't expose that side.”

“That is fine Lt., prepare to roll the starboard side towards the enemy and get us between our ships and those incoming torpedoes. We will not abandon our friends now, even if it means taking a few hits for them. Primary targets are the torpedoes targeted at the wounded ships.”

The Captain opened up a comm line to engineering. “Alicia, I hope the toys the Tarka gave us are ready for that field test.”

A female voice with a hint of a southern drawl popped up over comm, “Ah reckon the GOOP modules have been ready since we left space dock but ah hate using untested tech. They may work fine with Tarkan living steel but we're still not sure if the GOOP will even bond with the damaged hull. You know them politicians never gave the time to properly test them.”
The captain smiled. Alice Jackson was probably the best engineer in SolForce but she was brutally honest, to a fault even. While this had landed her in hot water with other Admirals and Captains, Rene had come to rely on it.

“Well there's no time like the present, activate them. We need the breaches on the starboard side filled in with polysteel and if there is one thing the Tarka know, then it's polysteel. We will need to trust in our friends' tech to get through this.” The Captain changed comm line to ship wide, “All hands, brace for impact! Point defences, give me some clear sky! ”

With satisfaction the Captain watched as her commands were carried out with the precision of a well-oiled machine, the crew working in perfect concert. As the colossal ship started rolling to present her starboard side, the GOOP solidifying over breaches in the armour and the point defences opening up on the incoming torpedoes, the Captain allowed a small smile to flash across her face. 'We might just make this yet.'


Oo00oO


A gentle shake of the shoulder awoke Rene from her dream.

“Good morning sleepyhead,” the once again familiar voice of the doctor greeted the Captain, “how are you feeling today?”

“I've been better,” Rene cleared her throat, “though I'm surprised at how fast I'm recovering. Two days ago I was barely able to move.”

“Oh I know!” The happiness evident in the Doctors voice, “We've had lots of help from the Prin- um, I mean from the medics.”

An awkward silence falls on the conversation as what sounds like Florence’s boot starts scuffing the metal flooring. The silence broken only as the door to the rooms slid open. “Oh AJ! I'm so glad you're here, the Captain just woke up." The joy in the doctor's voice evident.

"Good to see y'all up Rene," A much more pronounced southern drawl came from a familiar voice, again though, not quite in the place Rene would expect it to be.

The captain smiled and gave a slight nod in the direction of the voice, "Alice? You sound a bit different there. Glad to hear you made it as well though. What's the situation?" A worried tone crept into the captain's voice "The old girl's engines seem to be off line."

The chief engineer gave a goodhearted chuckle "A typical Captain, married to her ship and knows when the smallest thing is a'miss." As Alicia's chuckle died down she cleared her throat nervously "Well ah wouldn't worry too much if ya can't remember sugercube as you were in a bit of a state just before ya landed the old gal-" 

“I what?!” The Captain exclaimed. "There's no way anyone could have landed this ship, not without an army of tugs to bring her!"

A small "Eeep" and the clang of a chair falling over brought the Captain back out of her thoughts “Florence, are you alright?” she asked with concern.

“Oh I'm okay,” the Doctor said sheepishly, “you just startled me is all.” Picking herself and her chair up from the floor Florence sat back down next to the captain.

Alice shuffled around a bit and cleared her throat. "Well you ordered the engines shut off an ejected. Though to be fair ya had quite a bit of help landing her form what I hear tell." A silence took hold of the medbay as the captain absorbed the rather startling information.

"What do you me-"

The chief engineer cut the captain off apologetically "Ah'm sorry Captain, Flutters, but y'all will have to excuse me, I need to go get the stuff ready now that sleepin beauty here has woken up," there was the sound of the doors opening again a quick "See ya Flutters." before the doors closed again. The captain wondered about that last bit but ultimately shrugged it off as a friendly pet name. An ordeal such as this did tend to bring people closer together after all.

After the door closed Rene turned her head to where the doctor was sitting “So Doc, when can I get these bandages off? Did something happen to my eyes?”

Florence was quiet for a while. “Rene, something happened after we landed… it’s hard to explain and a lot of the crew didn't take it so well. I…”

There was a soft scraping of chair legs against deck plating as the doctor got off the chair and moved closer to the Captain's bed. The doctor laid her arm softly on the captain’s. "Do you feel that?” “The captain felt the soft short fur of the doctor’s arm catch on what felt like the same on hers as she moved her arm up to where the Captain's hand would be.  Even though It felt like her hand was still there but fused into a lump it did not feel like a bandage. 

“Everyone on board is the same, including you. The bandages around your eyes are partly there to keep you from waking up and seeing, something unfamiliar and panicking. The- the change is rather extensive."

Trying to fight back tears and keeping her voice from chocking up she turned her head to where the Doctor was now standing beside her. “I- wha- what happened to me?”

Feeling a warm and fuzzy embrace as Florence threw her arms around the Captain, comforting her “There there, nothing is wrong,” The doctor reassured the tearful captain, “you're perfectly fine, everyone is fine, just… changed.” Slowly stroking the Captains hair, although even that felt alien she continued, “We all went through the change. When the ship landed something happened, something wonderful really.”

The doctor held Rene softly to her chest, waiting for her breathing to slow down but feeling her own heart continue to race with the tempo of a hummingbird. It was quiet for a long time when -slowly and uncertainly- the captain moved her left arm along the doctor's arm and shoulder, building up a picture in her mind of how both her and the doctor looked like. 

Stiffening at first as the Captain put her arm on the Doctor's shoulder she drew in a sharp breath breath and the captain froze. Letting out the breath in a slow exhale Florence relaxed and with a soft voice just said "It's okay, I don't mind."

Rene was amazed to feel how utterly alien her hand felt -and the 'skin' underneath it- mostly due to not having fingers anymore and yet, could still softly and firmly take a hold of the Doctor's arm. As she reached the doctor's face she gasped slightly at the 'snout' protruding from the face and again at the large ears and the long soft hair, much longer than regulations allowed. As her... she almost wanted to say hoof, moved down the back she reached something on the Doctor's back and stopped, frozen in place.

A soft sigh emanated from the Florence "You um- you don't have to sop, if- if you don't want to I mean."

The captain slowly unfroze and explored the objects on the doctor's back "Are those... are those wings Florence?” She asked. The doctor giggled softly "Yes. It tickles a bit though."

Continuing to explore what her mental image showed to be a Pegasus' wings, the doctor slowly opened her wings to full spread and a soft moan escaped from the doctor. Awkwardly the Captain lowered her arm back to her side and she could have sworn she could -hear- the doctor blush.

Clearing her throat to clear the air a bit the captain asked "So, is that why I can't lie on my back? Did everyone get these um, wings?"

The Doctor sighed a bit "No, not everyone got wings. About a quarter of  the crew became Pegasi." She giggled as the captain opened her mouth to ask the obvious question, "Yes they work! Oh it's so much fun. You've also got wings but because of the damage to your back they are still mending," Another pause, "they're a bit um... sensitive actually. Most of the other Pegasi, mostly pilots and helmsmen, have gotten quite good with them and have been flying around a bit already but I’m too afraid to fly too high yet."

Rene was silent for a while, taking it all in. "Wait, did you say Pegasi, as in ancient Greek mythology Pegasi, like horses?"

The doctor folded her wings back onto herself. "Oh yes that’s mostly correct. But um… we look more like ponies." The captain started laughing and immediately winced as her back muscles and the wings attached to them went into spasms.

In a soft voice the doctor continued as she moved off of the bed "There's also the colour, or rather colours. As far as I can tell there really hasn't been any limit on the range of colours, from the whitest white with purple hair to blue like you are and even pink and yellow. Some even have... um well, multi or rainbow coloured hair."

Rene was dubious as to that last statement. “Rainbow hair? How would that even work?” Florence giggled "Well you'll see, but first you've been awake much too long. I'm going to give you some more sedatives if you don't mind."

There was a slight pause and the captain felt a small peck on her cheek. "Everything is going to be fine captain." said the doctor as the warm feeling overcame the Captain. The last scraps of thought fluttering through her head; was it the sedatives or the kiss that made her feel like she was walking on clouds? 
> With Dreams
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sword of Equestria: A Sword of the Stars II Crossover



Chapter 2: With Dreams


For Rene to say that she was getting used to the dreams, or memories rather and that they weren't getting to her would have been more than just a little lie. For this reason she was rather pleasantly surprised to -not- be reliving a fragment of her memories as she had been the last few nights.

'Still, this doesn't seem like any normal dream,' she thought as she looked around the surreal landscape of brightly lit green meadows under an impossibly bright moonlit night and a pitch black night sky. A vibrant canvas of stars were pained across the night sky and shined extra bright. The fact that she was in the body of what looked like a pony with wings was almost tame in comparison to the scenery. 'Pegasus' she mused to herself, 'that's what Florence called it.'

"You perchance meant to say Fluttershy?" A bellowing voice with a strange accent intoned behind her.

Out of the corner of her eye she managed to catch a movement and quickly spun around to look at who, or what had spoken. As she did, her unfamiliarity with her pony form had her ending up on her rump on the soft grass. Rene looked up but could only see mist slowly dissipating.

"Who- who's there? I'm not afraid of you!" Shakily standing up and looking around furtively for the speaker only the dream-scape showed itself.

"Your courage is commendable my little pony, as it always was," the voice was harsh but paused for a second, becoming much softer when it was heard again, "but you have nothing to fear here. This is my domain, as well you know... Rainbow Dash." Her voice carried a desperate, almost pleading tone, soured by an undercurrent of a deep and impossibly old pain.

The mist that had seemed to have no form, drifting a few meters away from the Pegasus slowly coalesced into the form of a much larger and strikingly beautiful pony with a coat of midnight blue and a flowing mane that seemed to contain entire galaxies of stars within. Even though there was no wind the star lit mane moved as if caught in a slight breeze.

Adorned with a crown above her horn and silver armour that shone like the moon above the pony slowly walked up to the bewildered Pegasus and simply sat down, cocking her head to one side "You truly do not remember me, do you Rainbow Dash?" There again was the undercurrent of a pain not felt in a very long time, a scabbed wound that would never heal, ripped open.

To her credit Rene was taking this all extremely calmly considering the circumstances. Even though her voice was shaky, with each passing word she regained some measure of stability. "Wha- Who is Rainbow Dash? I am Rene Desoto, Captain of the SolForce Flagship Indomitable and Admiral of the 23rd Combat Fleet." Truth be told though she hated being called an Admiral, 'just a bunch of pen pushers and glory hounds.'

A frown formed on the regal looking pony in front of Rene as she stared at the Pegasus "I am unfamiliar with this term 'pen pusher', is it some form or insect or parasprite?" A look of shock crossed the captains face and the midnight blue pony was quick to apologize, "My apologies Rain- Rene, an old habit of reading the thoughts of those that allowed it," Another frown, "a very old habit."

The Captain merely shrugged "It's OK I guess," a small pause and a tiny smile, "it's parasite by the way." she corrected the pony in front of her. Looking closely she could make out the form of a crescent moon and white spots on a black backdrop on the regalia in front of her, almost at eye height. 'She must be a princess or something', mused the Captain, 'that's pretty cool I guess.'

Slowly the 'princess' stood up with a sigh "One would think that I would have learned by now that my sister is always right. You share her appearance, her voice and even her mannerism, and yet you are not my Das-," her voice broke as she fought to control her emotions. The princess of the moon took a deep breath and turned around "You are not Rainbow Dash." A single tear, hidden from Rene rolled down from her eye, along her snout and fell to the ground. "Tonight I shall grant you a reprieve from your memories that have been plaguing you since you arrived," the mist was slowly engulfing her as she spoke, "rest well, my little pony."

Rene felt a heavy weariness and contentment wash over her as her eyelids sank slowly close, her last though slowly drifting away; 'She even had her regalia tattooed on her butt.' She fell asleep on the soft meadow, a small smile playing on her face.


Oo00oO


Florence let out a small -Yey- as she helped the captain into a seating position on the bed, "you're much stronger today than I expected you to be."

Letting go of the now upright Pegasus, Florence slowly dropped back to all fours and walked over to the light switch “You asked yesterday how rainbow hair would work," a soft -click- as the lights were dimmed, "well you can now see for yourself. We can take off the bandages finally. Now, your eyes will be quite sensitive being without any light for so long so it will take  some time to get everything in focus.”

Rene felt the Doctor's soft hooves slowly reach around her head to take off the bandages around her eyes. Frowning she wondered why she could still see nothing even with the bandages removed. A small giggle escaped the doctor, "okay silly, maybe you should try opening your eyes too." 

Rene wasn't even aware that she had her eyes closed and gave a nervous grin as she slowly opened her eyes. The dimly lit room's blurry figures steadily came into focus as the Captain blinked away the tears from her sensitive eyes. As she did so the room became more and more familiar as she recognize the various medical equipment. The familiar surroundings, having been here a few times herself for her somewhat reckless behavior in the various sports she participated in, immediately put her at ease. She slowly looked around and spotted what by all rights seemed to be a pastel yellow pony with a long flowing pink mane and what appeared to be two wings folded to her side standing by the side of the bed. "Hi there" the yellow pony said in the voice of Florence, giving a small and timid smile.

"Hi yourself." replied the captain with a nervous smile. 'Why am I finding this yellow pony so attractive and why the hell and I not freaking out by that thought?'

Shaking her head a bit Rene mused, "Well that sure is something." Trying to distract her from her thoughts she lifted a light blue arm, her arm, in front of her and moved it around while flexing it. "I have to admit Doc I think this is one of the weirdest things I will ever experience in my life."

The doctor gave an obviously faked and very nervous smile making a sound almost like a bleat of a lamb "Oh I don't know about that captain, there is still an awful lot of day left."

Raising an eyebrow at the doc the blue Pegasus slowly reached behind her head at her hair, feeling how impossibly long it is from how she remembered it was a mere week ago and held a few locks in front of her. 'Yup, rainbow coloured hair, go figure.'

"I see what you mean Florence," she gave a sigh and looked back at the Doc, "why don't you start with the most important things first and we'll go from there? It's not like I'd want to go anywhere with you... here! I mean, with you here."

'Nice, real smooth there Casanova.'

A blush coloured the Pegasus' yellow cheeks to near crimson as she tried to hide behind her long pink hair.

Slapping her hoof to her forehead the captain sighed, "why don't we just start with the planet we- I managed to land us on?"

"Oh, OK," sounding almost disappointed the Doc peeks out from behind her long hair, "Well, I don't know all the details but the planet we landed on is just like earth. Twilight says it's a standard M class planet with near zero hazard rating." As Florence started talking about what the captain had missed in the week since planet fall she slowly started getting more and more exited. Soon she was talking nonstop as she described all the wonderful animals she had seen.

"-and there's apple trees and forests with all kinds of animals from earth like butterflies and bears and, oh! Bunnies! The cutest little bunnies and birds and I can even talk to them you see, just like the legendary Fluttershy. The native ponies from Ponyville say that there are very few ponies who can talk to animals and it's almost always earth ponies and mrmrf-"

A cyan coloured hoof finally stopped the avalanche of words from burying the poor cyan Pegasus by corking the mouth and by extension the word generator attached to said mouth.

"Back up there Florence- wait is that why Alicia called you 'Flutters' yesterday?"

A muffled "yrfs" emanates from behind the hoof still firmly lodged in the mouth of the exited yellow Pegasus. With a loud -plop- the Captain extricated her now very wet hoof.

"Yea, anyways,” the funny nickname momentarily forgotten ash Dash peered at her soggy hoof, ”you said there were native ponies on this planet?" A vigorous nod from the Doc confirmed that that was indeed the case. "You also said something about earth ponies? What makes them different from Pegasi?"

The doc lapsed into deep though for a moment for a moment before replying "Well Twili- I mean Tina Light, one of the ship's psi personnel will be able to give you more detail than me..." The Pegasus mare looked nervous again.

The captain gave her a warm smile, "I'm sure whatever you can tell me will be fine."

"Hmm according to the locals, they are the descendants of one of the very first colonization fleets, after the Hiver attack of course, lead by Captain Rese Desoto." Florence looked uncertainly at the captain.

The captain gave a knowing smile, "No relation actually. It comes up more often that you'd think," she explains, "I believe that specific fleet was lost, listed as disappeared while exploring the z67- something system."

A cheerful smile from the Doctor has the Captain's pulse racing again. 'Damn there's that smile again.' Shaking her head vigorously she looked at the Doctor "Sorry, you were saying something about the Earth ponies?"

"Oh yes, well they are one of three um.. well actually more like four different type of ponies. Tina said something about a- an airborne agent that ini- initiates the change from human to pony but that was a little bit over my head." An apologetic smile from the mare as she continues. "There's us Pegasi of course, with fully functioning wings and light but strong bones," she pointed at her wings on her back, "Earth ponies like AJ turned into that are incredibly strong with very dense muscle and strong skeletal structure and um... Unicorns."

As the pink haired pony trailed off Rene raised an eyebrow, "You mean like an actual horn sticking out the forehead unicorn?"

Florence nodded quickly, "Oh yes, but according to the natives they also have well, magic."

The Captain burst out laughing, "Oh come on, with wings as awesome as these I can perhaps swallow being able to fly but you can't seriously believe in some tribal mumbo jumbo about magic."

"Well I didn't at first but Twilight, she has been studying it and she thinks it's actually a very strong form of psionics. In fact much stronger than anything we had back home, even stronger than the Liir. She even turned into a unicorn as did most of the psi personnel and people with strong psionic potential."

The doctor was about to explain some more of the discoveries they've made when she was interrupted by the door to the med bay opening.

Rene looked over to the door and unbidden a surprised gasp escaped from the startled cyan Pegasus' lips. Not only did she not realize she was staring like a fool at the amazingly regal creature in front of her but that she was in very real danger of drooling all over the floor. In the doorway stood pony, 'no, pony isn't the right word, not by a long shot,' a pony much larger than herself or the doctor with the wings of a Pegasus and the horn of a unicorn. Adorned with strangely familiar regalia, golden this time instead of silver and a sun instead of a moon emblazoned on the chest piece. 'And the flank,' she noticed.

The Captain groaned inwardly, 'that dream with the princess wasn't a dream after all! I swear one of these nights I’ll have a plain old normal dream.'

Florence smiled at the approaching pony and daintily went down on one hoof; “oh my, I wasn't expecting you to be here today Princess Celestia."

The pony in the doorway smiled warmly at the yellow Pegasus bowed in front of her. "Fluttershy, please, there is no reason to be so formal, this is your ship and for the time being your home. This is still by our laws considered sovereign territory of Sol if my memory of those laws still hold true."

The princess looked over to the still recovering captain. "Captain Rene Desoto, I am princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria. It is good to see you are well, you had your crew worried as you were gravely injured when you managed to land your ship."
The captain was stunned by the sheer grace and beauty of the princess in front of her, both as she talked and as she moved. Her flowing mane, while not quite as colorful as hers, still contained various shades of pink and green and had a surreal glow to them. The way it gently flowed as if trapped in an ethereal wind only added to the overall look of royalty and mysticism.

The small -by comparison- Pegasus shook her head and looked at the princess. "I am not sure where to start princess, I-," nervously she rubbed the back of her neck with her hoof and looked over to where Florence or Fluttershy or whatever the heck her name now was, "I haven't caught up with all thats happened yet."

The princess' brow furrowed momentarily, but unfurled into a smile, her voice filling the Pegasus with warmth like a spring sun on a chilly morning. "I can see the concern in your eyes but let me assure you, your crew is safe and happy," she walked to the bed, "so please do not worry about them. For now I am here to help you as much as I am able.”

The captain looked over to Florence who nodded and smiled. "Very well Princess if Doctor Florence is not concerned, I won't be either."

The Princess cocked her head to the side for a moment while somehow able to remain regal, a movement the Captain found rather familiar to that of a certain Midnight blue pony, then in realization chuckled warmly, "Oh you mean dear Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy touched the captain's shoulder. "I'm sorry but I um- didn't want to bother you with this as you already had so much to go through and it is such a tiny thing really.” The Pegasus shyly looked down and scuffed a hoof against the deck, “After the first day the ponies form the local town took many of us into their homes while the engineers built new homes for the crew. We have all um- picked up what you may think is merely nicknames but to them it is so much more. Mine is Fluttershy, it's- well it's linked to our cutiemarks.”

The captain gave a deep sigh and rubbed her temples. “OK, lay it on me, what's the story behind cutiemarks."

“If I may Fluttershy?” Celestia asked. With a nod she continued; “Every pony is unique and has a special ability. This marks them as so much more than just an Earth pony, Unicorn or Pegasus. This very special talent or ability to do something special represents itself as a mark on the flank,” as she is spoke one of her wings unfurled itself from the princess' back and pointed to her own cutiemark, a blazing sun, “of each and every one of us. Normally this mark is acquired when a young filly or colt realizes that one thing that truly makes them special.”

“So wait, does that mean I have one too!?” Quickly the cyan Pegasus lifted the sheets of the bed she was still in and froze.

It was not her cutiemark that caused her to freeze, although it was rather colourful.

It was a realization-

A rather obvious realization if you think about it-

She was naked-

As was the Princess-

And so was Fluttershy.

Throughout this thought process the cyan mare slowly went from cyan to almost purple as a fierce blush spread from her face to her neck and upper torso. She peeked over at Fluttershy again. 'Yup, very naked.'

The princess with a knowing smile merely dipped her head down to Fluttershy, whispered something into her ear and gave a small bow to Rene “It was nice finally meeting you Rene. I hope in time you will embrace your true name but for now I will have to depart. The time schedule of a leader is quite unforgiving.” As the regal pony turned to leave Rene caught what looked like a wink from the Princess though she could not say for sure if that is what she saw. 'Wait, are Princesses even allowed to wink?'

To her credit Fluttershy managed to keep a straight face even as she turned from yellow to orange as her own blush did its best impression of turning the mare into a chameleon.

There was a long and very awkward silence but this at least served to reduce the two ponies blushing down to a level where they were at least mostly back to their original colour.

“So-“

“I-“

Both ponies smiled nervously as they looked away from each other. A small cough from the captain brought the Doc’s attention to her “Um, you go first.”

“Um w- well, y- you see,” stammered the pink haired Pegasus said, a soft dusting of pink remaining from her blushing still covering her cheeks, “it took us a few days to get used to the-, " a tiny mumble was all she could muster, "but well, with the fur and the anatomy of ponies and all that..." she trailed off.

“I guess you're right um- Fluttershy,” the unfamiliar name feeling strange on the Captains tongue, “when in Rome right? Or in this case, Equestria.”

A visibly relieved Fluttershy game a small giggle, “There is a lot of strange and new things, and also so many old and familiar things. But I think we'll be alright Captain.”

A sudden load yawn surprised both ponies as the captain slapped a hoof over her mouth. “Wow I didn't realize how much all this took out of me. I'm sure I'll be right as rain after a little nap. So Fluttershy, what cool name does the locals have for me?”

As the captain laid back down she noticed that her back and wings barely hurt at all anymore and that she was slowly becoming more and more comfortable with her new form. As her eyes felt heavier and heavier she looked over at the Pegasus standing with her forelegs once again on the side of the bed.

“Well, they said you had the same cutiemark as another legendary Pegasus hero called Rainbow Dash.” The Pegasus said thoughtfully.

Another big -yawn- from the tired captain. “Rainbow Dash?” 'Figured as much, dang stupid dream and stupid pony Princesses.' A small pause “Still it's a pretty cool name,” With Fluttershy tucking her in and Dash’s eyes closed she felt a soft peck on the forehead and mumbled, “Rainbow Dash is at least twenty percent cooler than Re..”

As the rainbow haired pony started softly snoring the Doc smiled warmly at her. “I think so too, Rainbow Dash.” 
> With Blood
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sword of Equestria: A Sword of the Stars II Crossover



Chapter 3: With Blood


“Fluttershy! I swear to God or Celestia or whoever the hay- heck runs this crazy planet that if I don't get out of this bed right now I will go stir crazy!”

The normally timid little yellow Pegasus was uncharacteristically steadfast as she stared levelly at the equally stubborn Captain still confined to the med bay bed. “No, you heard what the Princess said Missy! Besides if you went out there and hurt your wings permanently why-,” fighting back a lump quickly forming in her throat, “why I wouldn't know what I'd do with myself.”

The cyan Pegasus folded her hooves in front of her and started to pout, “It's not fair! I feel fine, my wings barely hurt at all-“

Somehow managing to cut her off even with her demure and naturally shy voice, Fluttershy put a hoof on her shoulder, “I know it's not fair Rainbow Dash but it's not just that. Your wings are a mess and need to be preened and cleaned and we can't do that until they are completely healed. Spitfire showed me how to do it; she's the Wonderbolt captain and one of the best fliers in Equestria after all.”

An unexpected pang of jealousy hit the Captain. She knew a little bit about Morrigi mating habits back home and preening was large and very intimate part of the process for the giant dragon like aliens. She even had the opportunity to serve on a Morrigi 'yacht' for quite some time before the war as part of an officer exchange program. Despite the jealousy she chuckled inwardly, 'only Morrigi would refer to their colossal combat cruisers as 'yachts'.' To be fair though they were lavishly outfitted and by far the most expensive ships of all the allied races' cruisers.

Trying a different tactic the Captain decided to use her very best doe eyed pout with quivering bottom lip. Unfortunately for her it was not something that she has had a lot of practice with so the result was less than optimal. Flutteshy, to her credit, was kind enough to not burst out laughing at the poor attempt to soften her resolve. It wasn't that the Captain wasn't utterly adorable or even cute Fluttershy decide, it was just that the mare had had to deal with the captain trying to get out of med bay early far too often to fall for those tricks.

Luckily for them both they were interrupted by the doors sliding open and producing the aforementioned ruler of 'this crazy planet'. Smiling with relief the Doctor unfolded her arms and gave a little bow. “Prince- um, I mean Celestia,” the pony corrected herself, remembering the request from the previous day, “Rainbow Dash here is suffering from a bit of cabin fever I'm afraid, not that I can blame the poor dear but I'm afraid she's going to hurt herself if I let her outside the ship.”

“Hay, I'm still in the room you know,” said Dash, sticking out her tongue at the concerned mare.

The Sun Princess walked over to the two ponies and regarded the Captain with some bemusement, “I know it is frustrating Rainbow Dash, perhaps even more so because you carry her name but I think I can help with your cabin fever. Fluttershy, would you mind if I asked the Captain to show me around the ship?”

Her timid and shy nature suddenly reasserting itself with a vengeance the Pegasus nervously scuffed with her front hoof against the deck plating -a tick she seemed to have picked up since her change- “Oh, I um- I guess that would be OK,” looking up though the Princess could see the concern in her eyes, “but you have to promise to keep her from trying to fly around.

Celestia smiled reassuringly, “You have my word Fluttershy. I will make sure no harm comes to your Captain."

'Wait did she just put emphasis on 'your' Captain-. Nah it's just my imagination.'

Slowly making her way off the bed, Rainbow Dash huffed “I can take care of myself you know,” Pausing and realizing who she is addressing she hastily added, “with all due respect Princess.” A soft chuckle coming from the princess indicated that no offense was taken at the remark.

As the Captain struggled to get down from the bed, her legs wobbled as they almost buckled underneath her. Her body was not yet used to walking on all fours and the combination of unfamiliar body and more than a week lying flat on her rump had her barely able to stand. She felt the soft and gentle touch of what she assumed was the 'magic' Fluttershy talked about, surrounding her and helping her find her footing.

“Thanks um- Celestia, didn't realize how shaky I'd be. This is almost worse than that time the Doctor here confined me to that stupid bed for three weeks after that Tarkan ambassador visited.”

She could hear a growl of indignation from behind her, “You had a pierced lung, several broken bones and a cracked vertebra! Just be glad I didn't hold you for the full two months I should have. according to regulations.”

The captain looked over at Fluttershy and rolled her eyes, “Oh please I creamed that lizard at that silly stick fight of theirs and relations with the Tarka were never better.”

“It was martial combat and if he was a changed male he could have killed you!” A slight whimper came from the teary eyed doctor, “You may think you're invincible but you're not!”

The cyan Pegasus bit her lower lip and with a worried look walked shakily over to the pink hared, and now crying, Pegasus. “Aw common Fluttershy, I'm sorry,” She embraced Fluttershy, “the only reason why I can take these kinds of risks is because I know I have the best doc in all of SolForce to patch me right back up.” She gave the crying mare her best smile to show she really meant it, wiping away the tears from her damp cheeks.

“-sniff- OK, but you promise you won't do anything stupid you hear?” Teary eyed she looked at Rainbow Dash.

She nodded her head, “I promise. Besides, we're just going to tour the ship, my ship.” She tapped her hoof against the nearby titanium alloy hull, almost losing her balance if not for the mare she was still embracing. “This is one of the safest places on this planet. I'll be fine.”

Letting go of the Doctor, Rainbow Dash walked over to the med bay doors with the Princess in tow explaining all the different statistics of the ship.


Ooo0ooO


“Right, so our first stop is the main Command Bridge but we'll be passing the brig and one of the starboard Cutting Beam modules on the way. Those were a last minute thing too, the Cutting Beams I mean; the ships' fixed mounts were all fitted with normal Lancers when she was built but the Liir, allies of ours and all round cool dudes, lent us some modules when the war with the Zuul broke out.”

As the captain continued to talk about the Indomitable, the pride of the SolForce fleet, Celestia could hear that this ship was Dash's pride as well. Not just the ship itself she realized as the she started talking about the crew and how they operated the various combat and non combat systems. This was a pony that not only respected and loved her crew but was also proud of their achievements as she talked about the various individuals and the accomplishments they had made.

In a break in their conversation Rainbow Dash gave a sidelong glance at the princes  and cleared her throat, “Apologies if I seem a bit forward Celestia but I am not sure what kind of pony you are. Fluttershy has told me about Earth ponies, Pegasi and Unicorns but you seem to embody all three.”

Celestia looked at Rainbow dash a nodded “Very astute Rainbow Dash, I am indeed an embodiment of all three races of ponies, an Alicorn. This is part of the reason why I was chosen to rule. There was much strife between the three races after the arrival and change. There were no indigenous ponies to help them come to terms with their change.

Rainbow Dash frowned slightly; 'it almost sounds like she has first hand account of the founding of the colony, but that would be impossible. It was over 99 years ago by my count and she sure as hay doesn't look like a century old mare. It also sounds liek it was a lot longer ago than that.' her frown deepened as all the pieces of the puzzle failed to fit just right.

“Celestia, how long has it been since the original colonists landed here?” Rainbow Dash looked up trying to read the Monarchs face, but finding it near impossible. Celestia had one heck of a poker face.

She stopped and looked off into a dimly lit hallway, “it has been over three thousand years Rainbow Dash. I have heard from some of your crew that only a century or so had passed back... home.” That earned another frown from Dash, 'home- if she was a descendant, why would she refer to Sol as home?' Shrugging off her internal monologue as unnecessary worry she nodded for the Alicorn to continued. “Not a surprise really, time seems like an almost inconsequential casualty if you realize we were flung across a galaxy.”

They were so busy talking that they almost missed the bridge. Chuckling Rainbow Dash stopped and opened the door, momentarily forgoing further questions to the Princess.

Grimacing at the sight of her half destroyed bridge she gave an apologetic smile to the Princess “Sorry for the mess, I guess no one has been up here since-,“ she furrowed her brow trying to remember but gave up and sighed, “well I can't really remember much, only scraps here and there, mostly when I'm dreaming.”

“Dreams and memories,” the princess mused, “my sister tells me she has been trying to assist you in your dreams; with helping to recover some of those memories.” Rainbow Dash's ear twitched was the princess fishing for information?

“Well I did have a rather interesting dream involving another Alicorn like yourself but with a midnight blue coat and a mane that looked like it contained galaxies of stars a few nights ago.” Rainbow Dash decided to give the bait a nibble.

A soft, almost inaudible whisper came from the princess, laced with sadness, “Oh Luna, you still love her, even after all these years.” The shadow of a pain long forgotten flashed across the Princess' eyes for a split second. 

"I do apologize Captain, after telling my sister of your- striking resemblence with regards to a certain mare of legend I realized that she would want to see for her self. My sister has had a certain difficulty letting go of the past unlike myself and my niece.

"Celestia," the uncertainty in her voice making it crack "Exactly how old are you?"

“We -my sister Luna, my niece Cadence and I- are immortal Rainbow Dash.” Celestia turned away from the bridge and started to make her way into the hallways outside with a curious Rainbow Dash in tow. “At least, as far as we can tell. We were on the SFS. Maer Sera when we were flung through that anomaly so many thousands of years ago. We were there for the founding of Equestria and her two sister colonies, for the wars and peace that followed,” a fond smile appeared on the Princess' face, “one of your crew members, Twilight Sparkle has become quite the expert on Equestrian history. She would be the pony to talk to if you wish to know more.”

The princess slowly came to a halt and turned to look at Rainbow Dash, “The part of the history that pertains to you though happened more than a hundred years ago. In fact, it pertains to quite a few of your crew members including Fluttershy."

A wistful smile appeared on Celestia's face as she recalled how the six had saved Equestria more times than anyone truly  knew. "Six ponies, now known in legends as the Elements of Harmony managed to bring my dear sister Luna, whom I had thought lost a thousand years prior, back to me. Those six ponies saved us all so many times but they were not immortal.

The rainbow maned Pegasus took some time to digest all the information presented by Celestia. The immortality thing wasn't a huge shock for her interestingly enough. The Liir were technically immortal, although -that- never ended well when they decided to take that immortality by force. Even the similarity to six legendary heroes wasn't that big of a deal; coincidences or destiny it doesn't matter as the end result is the same. The thing that surprised her, or rather what she had trouble wrapping her mind around was how one pony could love another, and carry that amount of pain around, for so long. The pain and desperation that Rainbow Dash had seen on the face of the Lunar princess suddenly made a lot more sense to her.

Idly she lifted a hoof to her neck, to scratch at an itch she's had back there since they left the bridge. Frowning and  focusing on the itch on- no in her neck she could feel the intensity of it increase, as well as the pain. Immediately she froze, her eyes wildly darting around and her heart gripped within a cage of icy fear. She knew that itch, that pain. 

Quickly she grabbed a hold of the Princess' hoof, "Celestia, we are in great danger, we have to move now!" Turning around and galloping towards where she knew was the closest armory.

The Princess, hearing the urgency and fear in the Pegasus' voice scanned the area and sensed it. She sensed it slithering and crawling towards them, she could feel the scratching at the back of her mind as well now but quickly reinforced her mental defenses. Turning around and quickly catching up to the Pegasus she silently berated herself for dropping her guard like that. 

"Quickly, in here!" hissed the Pegasus, almost dragging the Alicorn into an open doorway and quickly closing it with the slam of a hoof on the control panel. As the princess turned around to look at the Captain she immediately recognized the room for what it was, this was one of the undoubtedly many well stocked armories on this ship. 

"I am so sorry princess," the Pegasus said with tears in her eyes, her face numb, "I can't believe how stupid I was. I was so caught up on everything happening it never- it never occurred to me that in the chaos of the battle Zuul could have boarded the ship. I- I bucked up everything."

"At attention, Captain Rene Desoto!" boomed a voice unlike anything the Captain had ever heard, the assault rifles and flamethrowers on the racks rattling with the raw power of the voice and the authority inherent urging her to immediate action.

Immediately Rainbow Dash jumped to attention, muscle memory taking over and standing on her hind legs, a front hoof in a salute "Ma'am yes ma'am!"

Pleased that her Royal Canterlot voice, though somewhat rusty with disuse, has had it's intended effect the Princess continued  with a softer but no less commanding voice, "Rene Desoto," she paused looking the Pegasus in front of her in the eyes, "you are no longer bound to that name, you are and forever will be bound to the name of Rainbow Dash. She was the bravest, the most loyal and," a small chuckle from the princess, "the coolest pony to have ever graced our corner of creation."

Looking over to the racks of weapons the Alicorn levitated a combat rifle quickly disassembling it as she spoke, the parts moving too fast for the eye to see as it reassembled itself seemingly of its own accord, "You will embrace what it means to be the Rainbow-of-Legend my little pony." Closing her eyes the horn's glow increased, almost too bright to look at and with a crack all the energy was released. "For now that means loyalty to your ship, and more importantly your crew."

Under her breath Rainbow Dash swore, "Fluttershy..."

Nodding the princess inspected her handiwork on the modified assault rifle. "Yes Rainbow Dash, she is the only crew member still on board having refused to leave until you were hale and whole. Another aspect of the legend you embody, being able to inspire such loyalty in others." She levitated the now modified combat rifle over to Rainbow Dash. "It has been some time but one of the perks, and curses, of being an Alicorn is a never failing memory."

Rainbow Dash took the modified rifle, finding it a perfectly fit for her hooves and grabbed a motion detector from its mounting next to the combat rifles. Making her way over to the door console, ready to open the door she looked over her shoulder a the princess "Alright Princess, I'll lead the way. We'll head towa-"

Holding up a hoof to interrupt the Pegasus she smiled, "Do not worry about me my little pony, I have not lived for three millenniums to be killed by mere vermin. Go save your crew member, I shall deal with the source of the infestation." With a steeled resolve Rainbow Dash slammed her hoof down on the console, the door sliding open with a near silent hiss. 

A sudden and blinding flash caught the Pegasus' peripheral vision as an orb of pure kinetic force shot past her. With a dull impact the orb swatted a Zuul larvae out of the air as it tried to lunge at her from the other side of the door. Momentarily dazed the captain shook her head and looked at the unmoving furry larvae on the floor. "Wow, you weren't kidding Princess, that was pretty awesome."

Nodding at her Celestia motioned down the hallway. "Go Rainbow Dash, I shall join you as soon as I am able." Taking off at a gallop she headed deeper into the bowls of the colossal dreadnought.

Scanning her wrist mounted motion detector she could see the blip of the Princess quickly moving off the grid along with the smaller blips of the larvae disappearing in her wake. Another blip, quickly approaching from the opposite side, indicated fast approaching danger. Quickly Rainbow Dash readied the rifle slung across her back, placing the butt of the rifle to her shoulder and testing the grip and trigger nestled within the enlarged trigger guard. Her hoof fit perfectly where normally only a finger would be able to curl around the trigger. Lowering her head to the sights she moved into a crouched position just as a small, furry and very fast moving worm like creature rounded the corner in front of her. With the practice of hundreds of hours on a firing range Rainbow Dash slowly breathed out and fired of a round...


Ooo0ooO


Grimacing as she let off another round and killing the vile creature that had almost sneaked up on her by using the ceiling to try and confuse the motion detector. 'Almost there Dash, just one more corridor.' Out of breath and in quite a bit of pain from her not-quite-healed wounds, Rainbow Dash struggled out of her crouched position back on to all fours. Wiping the sweat off her brow she quickly scanned her motion sensor again; it looked all clear but she was leery of trusting it completely and made sure to check every corner of the hallway with her eyes before moving on to the next.

Reaching her goal she could see the med bay door code-locked from the inside and allowed herself a small moment of relief. 'That's my girl,' she thought as she quickly tapped into the internal comm, "Fluttershy, it's me Rainbow Da-" before she could finish the door slid open and a bundle of yellow and pink assaulted her with hugs, almost bowling the poor Captain off her feet. As it was she was just barely able to keep standing as she clung to the yellow mare for support.

"Oh Dashie, I was so worried, when I heard the gunshots I just knew something was wrong so I locked the doors but- but I wasn't sure if you needed help or if- if you were hurt and- and," She buried her face in Rainbow Dash's mane, quietly crying into it and dampening the Captain's shoulder, "you promised Dashie, you promised you would get hurt, you promised everything would be fine!"

Still in their embrace Rainbow Dash started to softly, and somewhat awkwardly, stroke the pink mane of the mare in front of her "Hay, don't worry Flutters, I told you I'd be fine and I am. I was with the Princess after all. She made me this awesome gun see, and there was never really any danger, I just had to come make sure you were OK." Starting to rock back and forth she held tightly to the Doctor until the sobs were reduced to sniffs and even those were reduced to nothingness, as if her frame could block all the bad things in the universe.

"Hay, tell you what," She said after a long enough time without a single sniff from the yellow Pegasus, "Why don't we go inside and wait for the Princess?" 

The soft tap-tap-tap-tap of 4 metal shoes on titanium deck could be heard as they both looked up to see the princes, seemingly unscathed approach the two mares on the ground, "That will not be necessary Rainbow Dash," The princess stopped in front of them and smiled, "I was able to stop the vile creatures at their source and I can assure you there does not remain a single one on the ship or in Equestria. I do however," a slight frown crosses her face, "need to return to the castle urgently. For now, please get some rest, you performed your duties well."

As the princes turned to leave, she looked over her should and into the Captain's eyes; "Some ponies will say that the Rainbow-of-Legend would be proud of your actions today," She turned her head and cast a faraway look down the hall, "but Luna would say that the Rainbow Dash she knew would be humbled."
> With the Old (Expanded)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sword of Equestria: A Sword of the Stars II Crossover



Chapter 4: With the Old


Hmmm, this place looks familiar. Rainbow Dash though as she looked around the moonlit grassy hill, far brighter than it had any right to be. Spying the familiar surrealism of the dream-scape she groaned inwardly but this time took her time to make a more thorough observation of where she found herself.

She was sitting on a large grassy hill with soft blue-green grass under-hoof with a great view of the surrounding countryside. Looking around she could see to her left another, smaller hill and to her right and rear a dark and foreboding forest with a deep underbrush. Facing forward again she could see far off in the distance a small little village with a few lights on here and there. At the center of the town was a large clock tower and a few houses over, a large tree that seemed to have been turned into a house of some kind. I wonder if this is a real place on this planet, it's looks like a pretty cool place.

"It was indeed a real place, many lifetimes ago," Dash's ears twitching at the voice coming from behind her but not able to look away from the picturesque vista in front of her, "even though it has grown much larger because of who lived here once, it is still a small town." A ripple of dark blue started in the center of the little village and as it expanded, like a rock thrown into a lake, the ripple contorted and disrupted the image in front of her as buildings grew larger or sprung up from nowhere. Here and there, there were some iconic buildings that stayed the same; a tree house close to the center of town, a carousel like building close by and on the outskirts what looked like a farm house and barn surrounded by orchards of apple trees.
Rainbow Dash could feel a pony coming to rest next to her, close enough to feel the intruder's warmth but not close enough to touch. She heard the blades of grass underneath crunch and rustle as she made herself comfortable, "Luna," she said simply.

A sigh next to her, "I- My sister has spoken with me, I would like to apologize for my intrusion on your dreams and for the liberties I have taken in your dreams. It was not my place, Rene Desoto and I-"

At this Rainbow Dash looked at the mare next to her and smiled; interrupting the midnight blue Alicorn,  "Hay it's OK Luna, really and," Her hoof scratching behind her neck nervously, "I guess you should call me Rainbow Dash. I think it's who I'm supposed to be." There was a sadness in her voice at that and Luna frowned.

"You do not wish to be her, to be Rainbow Dash?" Luna shifted iuncomfortably, fidgeting a bit with one of her hooves.

"I don't really know what I want Princess. I mean from what Tina- Twilight has told me there's no going back, both from this form or... back home." She finished with a terfull chocke.

Luna looked at the teary eyed Pegasus and smiled proudly, "Rainbow Dash, we are in my domain and so I can see into your thoughts, your worry about the cahange is not the real reason is it? Your loyalty to your duty, to your home and to SolForce is what is causing you this pain. You are so much like her you know."

With a sniff Rainbow Dash looked up at the Alicorn, "I guess you're right princess, it's just been so hard being told I'm some mythical hero who saved a whole world-" she trailed off looking away.

Luna looked off into the distance, "and in your mind you are still Human, you still cling to it?"

Rainbow dash quickly snapped her head back; "No! I mean, yes maybe a little it's just that," she nervously looked away, "you and your sister have done so much for us, for me already. You have taken my crew into your homes and accepted us without question and-" Blushing a little she looked down and scuffed her hoof in the grass, "Fluttershy seems to be fine with it."

She seems increadibly fine come to think of it...

A small giggle from next to her brought Rainbow Dash back to the present with a deep blush; "Right, mind reading."

Taking a wing and patting Rainbow Dash softly on the head the Alicorn shrugged, "Not so much mind reading as any thoughts here is as good as a spoken word. It is one of the aspects of my domain and It makes it hard to keep secrets in dreams."

With a nervous laught Rainbow Dash shook off her blush and stood up "I mean sure I'd want to be human again but there's no point in sitting aorund sulking right? Sulking is very uncool."

A happy smile flashed over the Alicorn's face, "You really do remind me so much of Rainbow Dash."

Looking away and biting her lower lip, Rainbow Dash mulled over Alicorns' words. Taking a deep breath and giving a small nod to herself she decided now was as good a time as any to ask, "Luna, would you tell me about her? About- ", looking at the ruler of the night and searching her eyes she continued, "about your Rainbow Dash?"

"Oh!" The princess was quite surprised at the request, "Well, I'm sure that the Canterlot archives can supply you with all the pertinent historical records on Commander Dash. Her campaigns were well doc-" a soft giggling from the Rainbow pony caused pause to her outburst.

Rolling her eyes Dash looked over at the Princess again, "I already sat through one session with my science-officer-turned-historian Twilight and although it was only an hour, that egghead will be able to give me all the dry facts easy enough." Looking over the town again she sighed and let the silence hang between them for a few moments. "I would like to know more about the mare herself," looking out of the corner of her eye, "the mare you thought so um... highly of."

This time it was the princess' time to nervously scratch one hoof with the other. "Ah, well I realize I was not exactly subtle about it on our first meeting and again, I do apologize."

Blushing a little Rainbow Dash merely shrugged, "Like I said, don't sweat it princess, love can make you do funny things and I can't imagine being immortal helps any." A pause as rainbow dash scrutinized the town in front of her. "So is this where she lived?"

A blue glow surrounded the Alicorn's horn and another ripple, the same as last time, spread out from the center of town, changing houses and in some places the ground seemingly swallowing up some on the outskirts of the town. "Ponyville? Yes and no," she pointed up at a strange looking cloud bank, "that is where she lived, for the first part of her life at least."

Dash squinted at the cloud bank that seemed to do it's damnedest best to imitate a house. "In a cloud?" Looking at the all too serious face of the princess she burst out laughing, the sound rolling down the hills and being swallowed up by the strange landscape. Wiping away a tear from the corner of her eye as her laughter subsided she looked over at the princess, "Wait, you're serious?"

Smiling at Dash she merely nodded her head and started walking toward the village. "I believe my sister has shared how there are three types of ponies?"

"Well not including Alicorns of course." Rainbow dash beamed, pleased that she was paying attention.

Nodding again Luna continued "Indeed. My sister I believe has also demonstrated our magic. Unicorns have the same kind of obvious magic, a few basic spells like levitation being common to all and a few of the harder ones like teleportation to those that dedicate their lives to the study of magic. There has been a unicorns throughout the ages that has come quite close to the power of an Alicorn," She looked over at Rainbow Dash, "a certain Twilight Sparkle of legend was even able to become an Alicorn."

"Wow," Dash whispered but frowning and cocking her head to the side she paused, "wait does that mean she's still alive?"

"Thankfully no." A gasp from behind her made her pause and turn around to regard the shocked Pegasus. With a worried frown she quickly tried to explain herself; "Please do no misunderstand Rainbow Dash, there is nothing I would like more than to see my dear friend Twilight with us right now. She and her friends were the ones who saved me from a just banishment and I- all of Equestria owe her a debt that can never be repaid." Looking back towards the town she motioned for Rainbow Dash to follow her again before continuing with her explanation. "Being immortal is a heavy burden Dash, seeing your friends and lovers wither away before you is not something she ever deserved. She lived a full life and passed with her friends and family around her."

Stopping in front of the huge tree that seemed to have been hollowed out in to a house, Luna opened the door and motioned for Rainbow Dash to step inside and closed the door behind them. Inside was not quite what she expected though, finding a library rather than a house although it was a particularly cozy library. "If your Twilight was anything like mine, then she was a bit of a dork right? I guess a library would be the perfect place for such an egghead to live.

Luna lowered her head and a blue aura surrounded her horn. As the blue magic expanded from the horn a perfect, if a bit incorporeal duplicate of the Twilight the captain spoke to earlier in the day appeared. "Wow she really does look just like Twilight," she mumbled.

"Spike!" the ghostly image of Twilight called, her voice similarly hollow like a long forgotten memory. A bump was heard from the second floor and the sound of claws scuttling along the wooden floor accompanied by another voice, sounding much younger "I wasn't sleeping!" A large lizard or small dragon, either being equally likely Rainbow decided, came running down the steps from what seemed to be an upstairs bedroom.

"Oh, good, there you are Spike, take a letter." Spike grabbed a quill, a parchment and an inkwell and readied quill to parchment waiting for Twilight to start dictating "Dear Princess Celestia, today-"

A hard knocking on the door stopper Twilight's diction, "Twi! You're gonna be late for the picnic, get your rump in gear!" a voice sounding a lot like Rainbow Dash's voice came form the other side of the library door. 

Looking at the little dragon Twilight smiled and lifted a picnic basked that was lying on a nearby table with her lavender magical aura, "Don't worry about the friendship report today spike, making time for your friends, especially if you made a promise, is always more important than work."

The little dragon looked at the parchment, quickly scribbled a few sentences on it and rolled it up. Taking a deep breath he blew out a small green flame, turning the scroll into a green puff of magic that quickly flew out the window. Next to Dash she heard a whisper of Luna as way of explanation; "Dragon Fire, a very efficient manner of sending correspondents."

With a smile Twilight looked at Spike with a quizzical look as she made for the door "What did you send to Celestia?"

Spike winked, "Exactly what you told me! There is no reason why you can't do both if you have friends to help you."

With a laugh Twilight slowly started to dissipate, "That will make a great friendship report report, thanks Spike."

The scene in front of her slowly disappeared back into blue mist as she heard Luna turning to go, "Twilight was my sister's most faithful student and the catalyst for the six to come together and form the Elements of Harmony. Much like you embody the element of Loyalty, she embodied the Element Magic of Friendship. It is for this reason that I am glad she never had to feel the loss of outliving her friends many times over as my sister and I have had to."

Rainbow Dash quietly stood up and followed the Princess out of the tree library. Although there was no cold or warm in this dream-scape she still felt a shiver run down her spine as she left the cozy feeling library into the night outside. "This is all great, I mean it's good to get to know all the ponies from hundreds of years ago and all but this doesn't tell me about your Dash, or about Pegasi in general." A little bit of frustration seeping into the rainbow maned Pegasus.

A small giggle escaping from Luna as she continued walking along deeper into the little village, forcing Rainbow Dash to trot to catch up, "Just as impatient and brash. Tell me, can you understand what a galaxy is without first understanding what a single star looks like?"

Scratching her head a bit she shrugged "Well no, I guess not. But what does that have to do with your Dash?"

"Each life of a pony is like a galaxy, made up of hundreds or thousands of stars. Those stars are the other ponies in their lives," Luna explained, "the bigger the part they make up of the ponie's life, the more important it is to understand them to see the whole for what it truly is."

Nodding with a little bit of understanding Rainbow dash looked around her, noticing the carousel like building coming closer. Another blue glow and the door opens for the two with Luna motioning Dash inside. "This is the home of Rarity Belle. While she opened many boutiques in her time, this one was where she stayed for most of her life." Looking around all Dash could see was dresses and manikins in the shape of ponies. Probably poniquins or something, she thought.

"So she was a dressmaker? Sounds a bit lame," clamping a hoof over her mouth she smiled apologetically, "not that there is anything wrong with that."

Luna raised an eyebrow. "She was the Element of Generosity and although she had both the talent and drive to become the most sought after and famous designer in Equestria," a pause as Luna conjured up the alabaster white coated and purple maned unicorn at a sewing desk, "she was happy with a much more modest fame if it meant she could always have time for her friends. And yes, even Rainbow Dash who always thought the dresses should be about twenty percent cooler."

Looking at Rarity, Dash could see the bags under her eyes from a long night of working on dresses. Around her was five half finished dresses, each with a unique style. One she realized must be for her- or rather the old Rainbow Dash unless there were more than one rainbow maned pony flying around. "These were the dresses of the Gala, the first they went to. I heard it was quite the event." A giggle was heard behind Dash but something about the dresses didn't make sense.

"I count only five dresses, but you said there were six friends?" Turning around she looked over to Luna quizzically.

"She would not finish her dress before she was satisfied that her friends' dresses were perfect. Her friends, I believe it was Dash who came up with the idea in fact, finished her dress for her when they realized what she was willing to do for them." Turning to leave once more Luna's horn glowed and the ghostly image disappeared into blue mist again. "She gave up a lot of her time and herself for her friends. She was never sorry."

Having quite a bit to think about, Rainbow Dash was lost in though for the trip to the next house, very nearly walking head first into the wooden door of the small cottage. Looking up she could see the area around the cottage full of quiet sleeping, and some not so sleepy but still quiet nature. The had passed over a bridge that spanned a small creek and bird feeders and houses hung form every branch of every tree. The place looked almost more like a petting zoo, but with less fencing and more bears.

With a small -eep- Dash moved a bit closer to Luna before feeling rather silly at being afraid of a bear in her own dream. giving a quiet cough she looked at Luna "So, who's house are we at now?"

Luna pushed open the door and started the by now familiar process of conjuring up the inhabitant. "I believe you are familiar with her, quite well from what I hear from my sister." A raised eyebrow caused the Pegasus to blush a bit and look everywhere but at the princess, finally resting on the familiar image of Fluttershy. The doppleganger was busy feeding the various critters around her and as she moved, they would appear and disappear. Almost like a small candle would illuminate only a small area around it, wherever she moved the various critters would pop into and out of existence. "She was the Element of kindness, able to tame Manticores and Cockatrices and once even a full grown Dragon. I believe my Dash had something to do with inspiring that bit of courage in her as well."

Dismissing the illusions Luna made her way outside once again and headed out of town. This time Rainbow was quick to catch up thought Luna could see something was weighing heavily on her mind. "What troubles you my little pony?" she asked as they made their way along a dirt road with fences and expansive apple orchards on either side.

"I'm not really sure Princess, it's just that everything you've shown me so far seem identical to what I've seen and experienced since seeing the few crew members after the change. I mean yea you could say it's coincidence but there's no way all of this is just a coincidence is it?" A nervous look on Pegasus punctuated her point.

"You are correct Rainbow Dash, there is much more going on than even my sister and I can see but for now we can only prepare and... 'go with the flow'," a small smile formed on the princess' lips as she remembered a favorite saying of her Dash. Suddenly she stopped and looking at Rainbow Dash cocked her head to the side as if realizing something, "but that is not why you are asking is it? You wish to know if history will repeat itself, if the relationships these six ponies formed will be forced upon the new six?"

Nervously rubbing the back of her neck Dash blushed, "Don't get me wrong princess, you're really great and it wouldn't like, not be the greatest thing ever to- you know-" the Pegasus was interrupted by a giggle form the princess.

"Dash I am flattered that you would even entertain the idea but no, the relationships these six had outside of their deep friendship with each other was forged by circumstance and opportunity." Scrunching her face up in deep though and continuing down the road and through a gate, she considered what she was going to say next. "Destiny may have a hand in the destination, or important events in the world but how one gets there is up to each individual pony. And speaking of destinations, we are at our next stop."

This time Rainbow Dash took the initiative and pushed open the door to the huge farmhouse. Stepping inside she took in the homey and cozy feeling of the old house and all the knick knacks of the family living here. The old but well maintained wooden floorboards creaked under hoof  and a few dying embers were glowing in the fireplace. The soft smell of apples and apple pie permeated the entire house."So who are you going to show me here?" Dash asked excitedly.

"Not in here Rainbow, outside in the southern orchard." A tiny smirk was visible for an instant on the princess' face.

Rainbow Dash merely rolled her eyes and followed the princess outside  just in time to see her cast another spell and head into the southern orchard. The smell of apples grew stronger and while Rainbow Dash was no expert she could identify some of the types of apples as they hung heavily on the trees. It was obvious that they were ripe and ready for picking and her mouth started watering at the though of fresh apples. The food in the med-bay weren't exactly bad but they didn't hold a candle to freshly plucked apples or an apple pie still hot from the oven.

As they went deeper into the orchard she could hear a faint and irregular thump of something hitting the trunk of a tree. As the sound grew loader, she started looking for the source and finally spotted it next to one of the apple trees. An orange coated and blond maned pony was carefully positioning her front hooves on the ground, bending them and like a spring shooting out her rear legs, with the intention of hitting the apple tree behind her with the full force of both her rear hooves.

Only this time it seems she missed and landed with full force flat on her stomach. With the wind knocked out of her she wheezed as she tried to catch her breath, with each exhalation blowing up a little dust devil in front of her muzzle. Slowly standing up on shaky legs Dash could see the earth pony was much worse for wear. Large dark bags under her eyes showed the lack of sleep and her muscles in her rear legs twitching showing how overworked she was.

"Applejack was the Element of Honesty, or stubbornness depending on who you asked," The princess smirked "especially when it came to promises she made. This particular scenario happened one year when her brother was injured and her stubbornness wouldn't allow her to ask help from anyone. She felt that every pony relied on her and she didn't want to let any pony down or neglect any of the promises she made to help other ponies around town. Her friends though managed to convince her in the end that it was OK to ask for help."

A sudden burst of laughter echoed as it bounced off of the apple trees around them, the Pegasus rolling on the ground, "Oh man, that sounds just like her!" Wiping a tear form her eye she saw the quizzical expression on the princess' face "You know, Alice Jackson? Fluttershy called her AJ so I guess that means she's now Applejack or something. To be fair this sounds like it fits her too a tee. Oh man I can totally see her doing exactly this but buck it if it doesn't make her the best engineer a Captain could ask for, or the best friend anyone could hope to get."

"Interesting, to be this close friends before becoming bearers of the Elements?" With a swipe of her horn the orange pony disappeared and Luna started walking back to town. "This is what I meant earlier Rainbow Dash; destiny dictates that the six of you will become the elements of harmony but with the six of legend, my Dash and Applejack took quite some time before they really considered themselves close friends, butting heads with their constant oneupmanship."

Dash nodded and tapped a hoof on her chin "So princess, I guess she's an Earth pony right? What makes them different from the others, all I can see is that they don't have wings or a horn."

"Well Rainbow Dash, for Earth ponies their cutie mark is almost more important than for most other ponies. They have the widest range of talents in all of Equestria being able to become almost anything they could want. They are however almost universally adept at growing things. The best farmers and even some of the best cheffs are all Earth ponies. They have their own kind of magic, just like Pegasi and Unicorns although not as obvious.

Nodding and absorbing that bit of information she was silent for a while before speaking up again, "So I guess it's just one more then right, before me I mean." Luna merely nodded but Dash could see the worry and apprehension in her face "OK, so spill it princess, what's so special about this last one?"

Biting her lower lip she looked off into the distance for a bit before speaking, "This last bearer, Pinkie Pie, is a rather special case. Not that every bearer wasn't special but Pinkie is rather unique in all of the history of Equestria."

Rainbow Dash squinted her eyes at the princess, "Should I be like, sitting down for this?"

With a smile she merely shrugged at the Pegasus and figuratively dropped the other shoe, "It turns out that you do not need to be an Alicorn to be immortal, you just need to be Pinkie Pie."

"Wow" The Pegasus was intrigued and relatively impressed but something felt missing. Almost like there was a third shoe about to be dropped. They were standing in front of what by all accounts looked like a giant gingerbread house and the princess was staring at her with a badly hidden smirk, as if she was slowly counting down. The gears within the captain's head started turning, putting together all the pieces. Then, as if someone threw a monkey wrench into the intricate workings of a complex machine, everything ground to a halt. 

"Buck me," Rainbow Dash's mouth was hanging open and her eye twitched as the realization came crashing down on her, "You have got to be kidding me, it's the cook isn't it? Pinkamina Diane bucking Pie, my cook, heck the best cook in SolForce is an immortal pony that can travel across a Galaxy!?"

The princess tapped a silver capped hoof on her chin as if in deep though, "I am unsure on that last point about traveling across a Galaxy, though I would not put it past her, and the rest does sound accurate according to what my sister has told me."

Rainbow dash in the mean time was slowly turning purple as various emotions ran through her, thinking back on the many times she talked with the cook. Where most Captains had a counselor on their ship, Rainbow Dash had had Pinkamina Diane 'Danger' Pie. Looking back on all the years Pinkie had served with the Captain, Dash realized that it was she who had introduced her to all the important people in her life; The Cook, The Doctor, The Engineer, The Scientist and- 

What about Rarity?


0ooOoo0


Excerpt form the Historica Equestria, book 42, P to Pinkamina Diane 'Danger' Pie, page 235

"While entire volumes of the Historica Encyclopedia can be written on the nature and qualities of one Pinkamina Diane 'Danger' Pie, alias Pinkie Pie, it was princess Celestia herself that was famously able to condense such a thesis (and in the process save millions of trees).

"Expect the unexpected, expect to be surprised, expect Pinkie Pi- AAAIIIIEEE!"
- Princes Celestia

At that point we believe Pinkie Pie threw her a 134 days to your birthday surprise party.


0ooOoo0


Rainbow Dash has made a few mistakes in her life; like that time she ignored her doctor and went to play in the volleyball tournament anyways. Or rather famously that time she ate two dozen jelly dough nuts on a dare. Today her mistake was staring at the door of Sugar Cube Corner while in deep thought. It was not so much the deep thought that was the problem you see, but rather the foolishly chosen location of pursuing such an action.

As she was staring at the door it slowly creaked open. With Rainbow Dash's mind being otherwise preoccupied she did not notice two very important facts. The first was that Luna had slowly but surely inched away from her, now a good few feet away. The second was the bright pink, cartoonishly large cannon slowly being pushed out of the shadows of Sugar Cube Corner and pointing straight at her. Squinting her eyes and tilting her head to the left, the gears slowly began to switch over from her internal though processes as to who of her crew might turn out to be Rarity, to the very immediate threat of the barrel she was looking down. 'No, that's not quite right, it's more like my head is inside the canon really,' she though.

Oh buck.

With a force strong enough to give the mare an extreme mane makeover, an explosion -and at least five pounds of confetti- was blown out the canon and past Rainbow Dash's very surprised face. Blinking once she saw another ball of pink confetti, or rather what looked and felt like cotton candy being hurled at her at a tremendous speed. By this time her natural speed and years of rigorous training was able to ready herself for the assault and brace for impact.

"Surprise! Ohmygosh Dashie! You made! You finally made it here! I've been waiting for you for like hours and I was worried you wouldn't come or that timber wolves had gotten you but that would be silly since this is a dream and you can't get hurt in a dream well not like physically more like mentally but that is why Luna is here so she can protect you from any mentally scarring stuff and ohmygosh you have the exact same expression the old Dashie had when I used to throw her surprise parties especially that one time I threw her and Luna a surprise party by coming out of the closet in the middle of the night at her house although she was a lot more red than you and breathing very hard and had this thing sticking ounmfphl."

Blinking again Dash found herself holding a very solid, very pink mare with a wild and bouncy mane that smelled of sweets and sugar. Looking around to make sure she was still in fact in the dream-scape of surreal light and a moon shining more brightly than it had any right to, she saw a long dark blue hoof capped with a silver slipper firmly planted in the mouth of the pink mare on top of her.

"Pinkie Pie my dear friend! It is so good to see you again after so long!" Luna somehow gracefully removed her hoof from the mink mare's mouth and embraced her in a bear hug.

"Luna, you're here too! Wait, I didn't interrupt you two again like that last time while you were playing with the big purple dmphlp" Two hooves simultaneously shot out and muffled any further words coming out of the pink earth pony's mouth.

"No Pinkie Pie, you did not interrupt us," a warm smile form Luna, tinged with a slight blush, "I was just showing Rainbow Dash, your Captain, around Ponyville, how it use to look before you left. I am rather surprised to see you here," a brooding frown formed on her face," I had thought you lost when he disappeared and you along.

"Oh right!" Pinkie said, shooting up on her hind legs and saluting the Captain, "Captain Rene Ma'am! Pinkamina Diane Pie reporting for duty Ma'am!"

Chuckling softly Dash picked herself up off the ground and dusted the soot form the canon off herself. Standing on her own rear hooves with a serious face she saluted back, "You have a lot of explaining to do missy!" A smile slowly crept on to the Captain's face, "but for now Pinkie 'Danger' Pie," she looked over to Luna and winked, grabbing the pink mare in a hug and her original quest to find out about Luna's Dash forgotten, "call me Rainbow Dash."

For the rest of the night Pinkie regaled them with tales from her time with both the old and new Dash. Even Luna was resigned to let the matter of her sudden arrival -and apparent disappearance some years ago- drop for the joy of spending time with her.
> With Broken Spear (Was previously 'With Broken Wing')
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sword of Equestria: A Sword of the Stars II Crossover



Chapter 5: With Broken Spear


Finally! Rainbow Dash was finally going to see a sun for the first time in a week and a half of being cooped up in a med-bay bed. For the athletically focused mare that may as well have been a year of torture.

Well not that I minded that much, I at least had a cute torturer. She smiled to herself.

In fact, right at that moment Fluttershy was removing the bandages from around her waist and wings for the final time before leaving the med bay. They were still a mess, having been too sore to be properly preened yet or even stretched out fully.

With a long sigh, Rainbow Dash slowly stretched out her wings, wincing when they were finally fully stretched out at the tenderness and stiffness of never properly being used. “So Flutters, when can I take these babies for a test flight?”

With a concerned expression Fluttershy slowly combed through the still sensitive wings with her hooves for a bit, smoothing out the worst of the kinks in the feathers. “Oh I'm sorry but I don't think you should try flying today Dashie, your wings still need a proper preening or you'll just crash into the ground.” With a slight tug and a yelp from Rainbow Dash she pulled a particularly skewed feather back into place. “Oh- um sorry if that hurt, just get used to them and move them around a bit. They will be bit stiff but we should be able to preen them tonight, if that's OK I mean.”

Moving her wings open and close a few times she smiles “Yea, that'd be great Flutters! Can't wait to see what they can do. They feel kind of weird,” spreading her wings out and craning her neck to look at them she grimaced, “and they really are a mess, not cool at all.” Closing her wings and shrugging  she peered at Fluttershy’s pristine wings in comparison, “But I mean yours look great, almost as awesome as those wings on that featherbrained Morrigi Consular Ra’irtei we had on boa-“ with a sudden gasp of air Rainbow Dash froze in wide eyed shock, “the Consular! Dear Celestia I'm such an idiot, I completely forgot about her! How is she? What happened to her? Did she change? Did-” A small giggle from next to hem broke of her tirade thankfully before it really got into full swing.

“Oh she's fine, don't worry about her,” Fluttershy game a small smile, “She's a bit sad about the loss of her wings but she adapted just like the rest of us. Remember how you said that she was the most human Morrigi that you ever met?”

Rainbow Dash's face lit up at hearing that her Morrigi friend was safe, “I sure do! I remember her request to be transferred to a SolForce vessel ending up on my desk somehow,” narrowing her eyes a nagging suspicion at the back of her mind hopping up and down trying to get her attention but ignoring it for now, “and after meeting her I was impressed at her generosity and love of all things shiny.” Blushing a bit she remembered that Ra’irtei was in fact the one who shared the preening and mating habits of their race, “So um- what happened to her exactly?” Looking a bit sad she added; "she really did love her wings."

“Well um- she turned into a Unicorn actually. Twilight said it was to be expected because of how psionically powerful Morrigi are but she's doing fine, really. Actually she's even accepter her new name, she goes by Rarity now.”

Smacking her hoof to her face she groaned “Pinkie Pie! Figures.”

Raising an eyebrow Fluttershy asked in a timid voice, “The cook? What did she do?”

Hopping down form the bed Rainbow dash motioned for Fluttershy to follow her, “Common, I'll tell you on the way out. Right now I really, really need to get outside,” under her breath she muttered, “and find a certain cook to strangle.”


0ooOoo0


"-and then she just shrugged and said 'Well duh, laughter is the best medicine! How else do you expect me to live forever silly?'," with an exasperated sigh Rainbow dash threw her arms into the air, "she's just so- so-"

"Pinkie Pie." Fluttershy finished for her with a smile.

"Exactly!" Rainbow dash yelled in triumph.

They were almost to one of the main entrance hatchways, having had to detour several times due to some minor damage to the internal structure and closed off bulkheads. The damage was not that extensive but recounting the dream to Fluttershy managed to keep most of the worry out of Dash's mind. She knew that forcing a planetary landing and ejecting the Antimatter cores, was something only done in the most severe cases and mostly to save as much of the planet's surface from the resulting crater. The most likely cause would be containment breaches and Life support failing

When they reached the hatchway Fluttershy stopped with a worried expression on her face, "Dashie, there's something I need to tell you, before you we go outside and you see it for yourself."

Rainbow dash shrugged, "What, is the grass blue? The sky purple?" She stood up on her hind hooves and started punching the air in a mack boxing match, "there's giant sentient otters running around with stone tipped spears and a real craving for fish?" That last one earned a raised eyebrow from Fluttershy.

"That um- last one is kind of specific don't you think Dash?" but Rainbow Dash merely shrugged, falling back on her front hooves.

"It comes up more often than you'd think. You remember that trip to Arrackis VI?" Dash looked at the wall remembering over to Fluttershy, who nodded her head.

"Oh yes! You came back with multiple stab wounds if I recall correctly. Oh my, the Otters! You didn't hurt any of them did you?"

With a perfect deadpan Rainbow dash looked back at Fluttershy, "your concern for the Otters is heartwarming, even if they tried to kill your Captain," Fluttershy huffed a bit at that but Dash continued, "but it worked out in the end, I was able to smoother things over in ten seconds flat. Those guys really liked fish."

Fluttershy giggled, she really liked spending time with the Captain who seemed to always be able to make her laugh. Putting on a more serious face though she cleared her throat, "It's about- about the ship Dash. Applejack said that the landing was very hard on her..." Fluttershy trailed off, worriedly looking at Dash.

Rainbow Dash wasn't looking at her, she was staring at a bulkhead, running her hoof over it. Even though she hadn't commanded the ship for long, she still felt the unmistakable bond that forms between a ship and her Captain. And I was just getting to know you too old girl.

With a resolute expression Rainbow Dash dropped her hoof from the bulkhead and walked to the to the control console for the hatchway. After a few tries -still not quite used to the somewhat less dexterous hoof- she managed to get the console to respond and open the hatchway. A sharp, blinding light, at least to the ship-bound Captain's eyes, came streaming in causing a dull pain in the back of her skull that she was all to familiar with. Everyone who served extended periods on star ships suffered from it. Blinking a few times to get used to the outside light the captain was momentarily overwhelmed by the sensory input from finally seeing, hearing and smelling the outside for the first time. Closing her eyes, she decided to focus on the overwhelming amount of sound first, her ears twitching and rotating, almost like radar as she took in all the sounds around her.

Dash could hear the clang of metal on metal right behind her as the hatchway slid close and a bit to her left more metal on metal of what sounded like someone in... 'full plate armor!?' To her right a stiff military greeting from a vaguely familiar voice, Lt. Lucius maybe?, accompanied by the sound of a rifle knocking into a shoulder. The sounds of nature were quick to make itself known once the noises closer to the Captain silenced. She could hear various birds singing and insects buzzing all around her and even a light breeze as it blew past the treetops causing the leaves to rustle. Far off in the distance she could hear the clang and thuds of tools and heavy machinery and shouts of various ponies, too far away to be made out clearly.

Acclimatised to the sounds around her now Rainbow put a hoof up to her brow, shielding her eyes, and slowly opened them. Squinting she looked to her left to confirmed that there was indeed a pony -a cobalt blue maned white Pegasus in fact- standing at attention next to her and staring straight ahead. Clad with a set of shining golden armor on his chest, legs and back -expertly articulated in various place- she could see the symbol of Celestia on the rear part that covered the flank of the Pegasus. Resting on his should was a long spear that looked strong and sharp enough to act as a very real and dangerous weapon but decorative and ornate enough to stand in as a ceremonial weapon.

Looking over to her right she saw a cream colored Earth pony mare with a two toned burgundy and rose colored mane and tail with a combat rifle resting on her shoulder. Dressed in military fatigues that looked expertly tailored to fit the soldier's new form she was also looking straight ahead, not to be outdone by the professionalism showed by her Equestrian counterpart. The name tag sewn into her fatigues and the Lt. badge on her shoulder confirmed that it was indeed Lt. Rosana Lucius, one of Dash's hand picked security officers. Standing at attention with a weapon unsuited to her new physiology she none the less looked ready and alert for any danger. Rainbow Dash made a mental note to ask the Princess about issuing weapons to her personnel; not for defense but more as a morale boost instead. A soldier without her weapon just wasn't cool, kind of like a Captain without a ship.

The ship, right. Forcing down the lump in her throat Rainbow Dash slowly walked forward and turned around to look at how bad the damage was. What she saw left her jaw slack and forced her on to her hunches.

Now even when a smaller ship like a destroyer is forced to make a planetary landing, under full power and with working engines the results can be quite messy if there isn't an army of tugs to help bring her in. A dreadnought or even a smaller cruiser on the other hand -with no main engines to boot- would end up as nothing more than a complete wreck if it was lucky, and a smoldering crater if it was not.

So it was with that knowledge that Rainbow Dash was rather confused at seeing a nearly intact Flagship class Dreadnought in front of her, minus a few holes from the battle a week and half ago. Well most of it anyways since quite a bit of it was sunk into the soft soil of the surrounding country side. It was even positioned in such a way as to have the iconic armored Node Ring, that all SolForce ships use to travel faster than light, hang off the ship rather than the ship resting on it. It seemed almost like it was placed there very carefully but by who or what Rainbow Dash didn't know, nor was she sure she wanted to know.

It was to the credit of the guard ponies that they did not even let a smirk show on their faces as they watched the Captain's eyes glaze over and a big goofy grin form on her face. The stern look from Fluttershy eying them had nothing to do with it. Nothing at all.

"Well hay there sugar cube! Captain!" Came the cry of the Chief Engineer as she came trotting up to them from the rear section of the giant craft. "Yah might want to be closing your mouth there Dash, don't want a parasprite to be making a nest in your mouth."

"Parasite" Dash said automatically.

Shaking her head Rainbow focused on the new arrival, who was beaming with a smile ready to split her face in half, and smiled herself. "Chief Engineer Jackson?" In front of her was an orange coated pony with long blond mane and tail tied at the ends with a single red band and on her back a saddlebag loaded with various tools and data-pads. The Chief Engineer always managed to get away with hair much longer than regs although she normally wore it in a bun. Even she wasn't stupid enough to let a lock of hair get caught in some piece of machinery, at least not twice. What surprised Dash the most though was the large Stetson that sat on top of the Earth pony's head, as if there was no other place in this universe it would rather be. 'No, more like AJ wouldn't want to be anywhere other than underneath that hat.'

There was incidentally a lot more truth to this than the Captain would ever realize but unfortunately since hat-mind reading technology had not yet been invented it would remain the hat's little secret as to witch was truer.

With a soft jab on her should Rainbow Dash was quickly brought out of her revere by the rumbustious orange mare. "Aw shucks Dash, the closest SolForce outpost is probably on the other side of the universe, call me Applejack." Seeing the raised eyebrow coming from Dash, clearly saying 'I'm still your Captain you know', she smiled nervously. "Now I ain't saying we should throw out all the rules and regs mind you, just that there's no point in being all formal like with us being friends right?"

Rainbow Dash considered this for a second, "Hmm I guess that's true Applejack. I've already pretty much threw out any formality with Fluttershy here so I see no reason to be a hard ass about it." She titled her head towards the colossal ship and looked at the engineer. "So, how is she? Damage isn't nearly as bad as I though it'd be."

Applejack turned towards the ship and replicating Dash, plopped down on her rear haunches as well. Brining up a hoof to her head she scratched underneath her stetson in an obvious display of confusion, "Ya'll can sure say that again. I just can't figure how you managed to keep her in one piece on the on the way down. Now Twi said something about the Princess having something to do with it but I don't know if I can swallow that." She quickly looked over to Dash with an apologetic smile. "Not that I'm one to look a gift horse in the mouth mind you."

Rainbow Dash grimaced at the pun and even Fluttershy gave a small cough next to her; AJ may be one of the smartest and best engineers in the fleet but her sense of humor left a lot to be desired. It was also no surprise she was a bit skeptical about the whole magic thing, she was one the most sensible and down to earth people she knew. 'Ponies, not people anymore,' Rainbow Dash reminded herself as she stared at the the Earth pony mare. AJ had taken out a data-pad from her saddlebag and was tapping on it, bringing up schematics and quickly and efficiently completing a detailed damage report. 'She must have completely flipped out with the change. Heck most of my crew must have been completely freaked out and yet, so far all of them I've seen have been calm and normal.'

"Um- AJ" Rainbow Dash began nervously, not sure how to approach the subject.

"Mhmm sugar cube?" AJ said absentmindedly, her focus still on the data-pad in front of her as reports and alerts from her engineering teams came in on the device.

"We're- well, we're pastel colored ponies and..." she trailed off.

AJ gave a short hmph and smiled, "Noticed that did ya?"

She groaned. "This is serious AJ! I mean, you all seem so relaxed about it! Aren't you the least bit freaked out?"

AJ stared at the data-pad in front of her for a second and turned it off, the sounds form the alert messages and incoming reports silenced. Looking up at the indomitable she considered her words before finally putting the data-pad into her saddlebag.

"Who are we Rainbow Dash?" She asked, staring at the Captain. "As in me and Fluttershy and Lt. Roseluck over there," she points towards the security officer, "and Twilight and even Pinkie Pie."

Rainbow Dash, momentarily taken back by the cryptic question; It wasn't like AJ to be cryptic. "I- I don't know, the crew of the Indomitable?" she asked uncertainly.

"Yea, but it's more than that, we're not just some old ship's crew." She pointed at the ship to punctuate her point. "A ship is just a ship Dash, I mean sure we love the ship and serve on her but that's not it." AJ moved closer to the Captain, stopping right in front of her and putting her hoof on Rainbow Dash's chest. "We're your crew Dash and it doesn't matter how we look on the outside, we'll always be your crew. You've never steered us wrong and so long as you're here we know we'll be alright."

She was immediately reminded of what Luna had said in her dream, how the element of Loyalty was not just about being loyal to someone or something, but about being able to inspire it in those around her as well. Gripping AJ's shoulder with a hoof and with a tear in her eye she nodded at AJ who in turn beamed brightly. Grabbing Dash into a bear hug and managing to somehow scoop up Fluttershy -who was able to only get out a surprised 'eep'- into it as well they stood there for what seemed like forever. Dash was somewhat sad when they were finally released by the engineer's strong earth pony's arms.

With one last squeeze AJ let the two Pegasi go, much to Fluttershy's relief, and looked over at the ship again. "Now I reckon you'd want to see the damage report Dash? Well as good as she looks she still took quite a beating in the fight," reaching into her saddlebag for the data-pad again she flipped it on and handed it to Dash, "but we're none too worried about the armor for now, that Tarkan doohickey worked like a charm. We're mostly just the internal structure and of course the Node Ring..." 

Dash zoned out as AJ was continuing to list and point out things that needed to be fixed or that they were already working on. She looked over the Indomitable and sighed. 'She's probably never going to see space again, but if it helps the crew to be around something familiar and doing familiar things then she will have served more than it's purpose.'
> With Pegasus Wings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sword of Equestria: A Sword of the Stars II Crossover



Chapter 6: With Pegasus Wings


Rainbow Dash groaned loudly as she sank into the steaming hot bubble bath, the wisps of steam lazily rising and fogging up the only mirror in the bathroom. The slow fizzle of bubbles popping on the water surface helping to relax her as much as the warm water swirling through her hooves and wings. The day had been a long but extremely rewarding one, not so much in having accomplished anything of any specific value but rather in finally doing something other than sitting on her flank and having weird dreams. Her body was sore and stiff from not only the unaccustomed hard labor but also pushing her new body to the limits -as much as the hovering Fluttershy would allow of course. The aromatic water was having the desired effect; washing away the sweat and dust of the day and soothing her tired muscles by slowly unwinding them. Even her wings were enjoying finally being allowed to slowly open and soak in the water, the places where they sprout out of her wing muscles relaxing and the constant pain slowly being replaced by bliss.

She had spent most of the day with Applejack inspecting the colossal dreadnought from the inside out with Fluttershy constantly hovering about and worrying about Dash and her wings. She liked how much the yellow Pegasus cared about her, even if was one huge pain in the flank sometimes. She shook her head ruefully; If this had somehow happened on just about any world back home, getting the Indomitable back up into space and into working condition would have been a relatively simple matter. The manner in witch she got down on to the planet in one piece would have been hard to explain but the battle damage alone was not enough to cause any lasting issues with getting her space worthy again. With the Adamantine armor plating supplied by the Hiver Queen herself protecting the vulnerable innards of the ship and the 'magical if a might bit messy' as AJ put it, Tarkan GOOP modules, the ship was practically ready to do front line duty

Sinking into the water, nearly submerging herself completely with only her face and muzzle sticking out she stared up at the at the wooden ceiling of the small cottage, now home to Fluttershy and a bizarre array of of animals. She gave a deep sigh, bubbles forming at the sides of her muzzle; 'I wonder how things are going back home. I wonder if we lost any more worlds or how much of the fleet was lost. I wonder if Earth…'

Shoving herself into a sitting position she shook her head head to try and derail that train of though. Chastising herself for worrying about something she could do nothing about she pouted. 'There is no going back Dash and you know it. Besides even if we could, what would we do? We're just ponies now, barely able to function on our own ship and even our weapons are useless. We'd be nothing more than a nuisance, not even able to protect our own homes.'

Slamming her hoof into the water with frustration, a wave of the foam topped bathwater deposited a large amount of soapy water on the fire brick floor and soaked the bathroom mat. “It's not fair!” she yelled in frustration.

A soft knock at the door pulled her out of her angry introversion, “Is- is everything OK in there Dashie?” came the soft and timid voice of Fluttershy from the other side of the door.

Scowling at herself for losing her cool, Dash took a slow long breath to calm her nerves. “Everything is fine Fluuttershy, I just um- slipped is all,” wincing at the obviously lie she held her breath; she didn't need to burden her with these thoughts. 'All part of being in command, you can't show weakness or you lose the trust your crew put into you, or worse.'

“Oh- okay,” letting out a slow breath as it seemed her little white lie was accepted without question the little voice on the other side continued, “can I come in? Your wings need to be preened properly… if that's okay with you I mean.”

Nervously fidgeting in the bathtub Dash felt the heat of a blush starting on her lower neck and slowly working its way up to the sides of her muzzle. Not wanting the other Pegasus to see the Captain lose her cool she turned around to face the wall and pulled out her soaked wings from the warm embrace of the water. They looked to still be in a pretty sorry state but far better than they were when she got in. Clearing her throat she managed to squeak, “Sure Fluttershy, you can come in.”

Hearing the door slowly open behind her she quickly grabbed a bar of soap and pretended to wash her left hoof, working the soap into a lather trying to get her mind off the awkward situation she's found herself in with the good Doctor. She has had to be bathed by the Doctor more than once when she was still a Human, with her constant combat injuries and sports related accidents so the situation itself wasn't all that different from normal. The one incident in particular sprang to mind; she managed to break both her arms in a friendly underwater wresting match with a Liir black swimmer on a visit to one of their cruisers. The poor thing was terribly sorry she remembered but considering how young the Liir was, Dash couldn't fault it for either its enthusiasm or inexperience with Humans. 'Black Swimmer, so apt a name for the Liir who go off into space to defend their homes, considered dead the moment they choose to take up the responsibility...'

Still she felt more naked than ever, as funny as that was considering she was covered in fur, but she wasn't so naive that she didn't know why. She jumped when she felt a hoof softly touch her wing, feeling it pull away sharply with a startled 'eep' coming from behind her. She had been so lost in thought and Fluttershy so damn sneaky quiet that she had forgotten the mare was even there. “So- sorry Dashie, didn't mean to startle you. Are your wings still sore?”

Chuckling nervously Rainbow Dash was relieved her wet mane plastered across her neck and back hid most of her rising blush. “That's cool Flutters, was just lost in thought is all. So how does it look back there? They looked a bit messed up to me.”

This time when the Doctor took hold of her wing Dash didn't jump or pull away, she merely gave a tiny sigh and lowered her head a little bit, raising her wings up in the process. As the hoof traveled along to top part of the wings -where the bone, muscle and sinew was located- she could feel a pressure building up at the base of her wings. Guessing that there would be a nerve cluster located in that spot that probably fed directly into her spine, she groaned as she was proven right. When Fluttershy reached the base of her wings she slowly ground a soft hoof into the cluster, forcing the nerves to release the taught muscles in her wings and feathers. Immediately she could feel some relief from the the intense itch her primaries and most of her secondaries had been plaguing her from being so far out of position. She let out a low moan; "Oh buck that feels so much better."

Behind her Fluttershy gave a soft 'yey', the stress in her voice dissipating as she worked on the pent up muscles and nerves. “It doesn't look too bad Dashie, they formed fine except for a few feathers that got bent from being wrapped up for so long and the um- the nerves all look like are working like they should be.” Punctuating the her last few words she drove her hoof a bit harder into the feathered back in front of her, forcing the last few stubborn nerves to release and eliciting another groan from the bent over form in front of her. "There we go, doesn't that feel better?"

Glancing over her shoulder Rainbow saw the pony behind her beaming with a happy smile. Blushing she quickly looked back to the wooden wall in front of her, finding it extremely interesting. "Than- thanks Flutters! Yea wow, it feels a lot better! Didn't know the nerves were that twisted up haha," the nervous laugh dieing a quick death in the small confines of the bathroom she gave another quick glance over her should and asked, "so does this have to happen often?" There was a slight hopeful tone to her question.

Seemingly not noticing the tone, or deciding to ignore it, Fluttershy merely shrugged as she started adjusting the Captain's Primaries with her hooves, putting them back into place and smoothing them out. "Oh I wouldn't worry about having to do that too often." Scrunching up her face in concentration Fluttershy adjusted the last Primary in Dash's left wing, the itch slowly receding from her wing but the blush on her face increasing with each pull. The whole situation was surprisingly stimulating for the cerulean pegasus.

Switching over to the right wing the Doctor smiled, "Spitfire was right, this is so much better when you do it with someone else, though um- I still don't understand why she was winking at me so much when she said that." A small growl escaped from the bent over Pegasus in front over her. "Oh I'm sorry Dashie, did that last one hurt?" Fluttershy said with concern.

Dash just waved a wet hoof over her shoulder, not trusting to look over her shoulder. 'Looks like I'm going to have to have a word with this 'Spitfire' pony,' she thought, 'though come to think of it, what do I do if the crew wants to... get to know the locals better? I highly doubt SolForce rules and regs can apply in this sit-'

"OW!" A yelp more from surprise than real pain came from the Captain, "what the hay was that?" Turning around she could see Fluttershy smiling sheepishly, with a light blue feather stuck in her mouth. Spitting it out she looked a bit downcast.

"Oh dear I'm so sorry, must not have said it load enough, there was a loose feather and I asked if I could pull it and you must have been lost in though and i bet you have a lot on your mind and eep." As she spoke her voice got softer and softer and it looked like she was on the verge of tears.

With a pang of guilt Rainbow Dash turned around and embraced the sniffling mare in front of her with a very wet hug. "Oh hay, I'm sorry Fluttershy, you just surprised me is all. I guess I got lost in though and didn't hear you so it's okay." Patting the pink mane Dash realized she was still soaking from head to hoof and was in the process getting her friend very wet as well.

"Oh ponyfeathers," having heard one of the local ponies use the epithet she found it rather fitting in this situation, "now I got you all wet as well." 

Fluttershy looked up, a rose tint to her yellow cheeks and trying her best to hide behind her pink mane. "It's okay Dashie, I don't mind," looking down at her nearly soaking wet fur she giggled a bit, "but I am pretty wet."

Biting her lower lip, Rainbow mulled over a thought in her mind. "Well," she finally said, "since you haven't had a bath yet and you're wet already you might as well get in while the water is still nice and warm. It'll be a bit of a squeeze but you can finish with my wings that way right?" She looked hopefully at Fluttershy, noticing the blush on the yellow face darkening by a shade.

"Oh well- I um guess I could, if that's OK with you."

Slowly the yellow Pegasus stood up and with Rainbow Dash scooted up to the front of the large tub, carefully put her hooves into the bath, with her front hooves on Dash's shoulders to provide balance. She lowered herself into the still warm water and shifted around a bit, putting a lower hoof each on the left and right of the mare already seated in the bath. Throughout Dash was desperately trying to wipe the goofy grin off her face but inside she was jumping up and down yelling 'Best. Thing. Ever.' over and over.

Spreading out her wings and peeking over her them and her shoulder just enough to clear her eyes but hide her still goofy grin she said in as even a voice as she could muster, "Well whatever you are doing to my wings, keep doing it, they're feeling way better already!"

With a critical eye, Fluttershy eyed the stretched out wings in front of her in the bath tub. With a wet hoof she took one of the wings in her hoof and inspected it closer. "It looks like the primary and secondaries- I mean the feathers you use to fly are all good, just the one damaged secondary that I had to pull out."

Dash rolled her eyes, "I know what Primary and Secondary feathers are Flutters, books are not just for dorky eggheads, just boring ones like maths or biology. Books about something as cool as flight is like, at least twenty percent cooler." As she was talking she felt Fluttershy dig into her feathers with her mouth, arranging skewed covert feathers and removing ones that were loose. With a soft moan Dash's eyes drooped close as the dull ache of loose feathers poking into her and the general itch continued to fade. She also found that her wings were particularly sensitive right ther- "Ow!" Again her thoughts were interrupted by the sharp pain of a feather being pulled, "I thought you said the rest fo my feathers were all fine?"

Spitting out the feathers Fluttershy smiled sheepishly, "I- I'm sorry Dashie, but your covert feathers are a mess. Most of the broken and bent ones look like they're loose already but there might be one or two more I'm going to have to pull out if that's OK?"

Reaching back with a hoof and rubbing the spot where the errant feather was a few moments ago she flashed a reassuring smile over her back. "It's fine, just warn me next time OK?" With a nod she continued her ministrations with Dash wincing every now and then as a particularly stubborn father got plucked. Even though it was not an overly enjoyable experience, she did feel a lot closer to Fluttershy than she has ever felt, to anyone, even when they were still Humans. As Fluttershy spat out a few more feathers, the bath now full of floating and submerged bits of feather, Dash looked critically at a wing tip with a worried expression, "is it always this bad?"

Shaking her head energetically causing the water in the tub, having lost most of its heat, to splash about, "Oh good heavens no, my first time was painful as well but I really enjoyed my second time with Spitfire even if it didn't last so long. She was really gentle."

Fighting a growl and giggle at the same time, and losing to both, Dash settled for a strangled half cough and staring at the spigot in front her with crossed eyes as she tried to recover. That spigot was really interesting.

Innocently Fluttershy patted Dash on the back with a giggle and started to slowly massage her wing roots again. Rainbow smoothly closed her wings, a much more pleasurable and by far easier task now that they've been preened. Glancing back at Fluttershy her heart started beating faster and faster, not believing was she was about to do. Turning her head back to look in front of her, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath trying to calm the hummingbirds fluttering in her stomach and the jackhammer that somehow replaced her heart. Slowly but surely she shifted herself back more securely into Fluttershy and leaned back.

As she was leaning back, her heart not giving up on it's jackhammer impersonation for a millisecond, it felt like time came to a grinding halt as she felt Fluttershy's hoof on her back freeze. This caused Dash to freeze in place as well including stopping breathing, not sure if she had gone to far or if she had read the signs wrong. She wasn't the most socially adept  Human -though seemed to do pretty well with the aliens she's met- and there was no reason to think she would be any better as a Pegasus. An agonizingly long minute passed as Rainbow's lungs started to burn from the lack of oxygen as her heart quickly depleting what little oxygen she did have left in her body. Just as she tensed her muscles to jump out and apologize -not to mention breathe- she felt Fluttershy's hooves slowly and shakily snake their way around the barrel of her chest and pull her closer. Letting out the breath she was holding in a long sigh Dash snuggled on to Fluttershy's soft and very wet body and laid her head in the hollow of her shoulder with a content smile on her face.

Looking up from her position right below Fluttershy's chin she looked up into those big round eyes, as blue as her own fur stare back into her. She could see uncertainty and fear, but also compassion, love and what she hoped was the spark of lust. Slowly she reached up with a hoof, cupping the side of Fluttershy's blushing face while she guided their faces together. Closing her eyes a single thought flowed through her mind; this moment is perfec-

"SURPRISE!" Like a round shot from a rifle Dash jumped out of the bath, nearly hitting the roof, as pure instinct took over. Landing on all fours she crouched into fighting stance she had learned from one the Hiver Princes to face the threat. She was sure it would have looked a lot more impressive if she wasn't soaked and resembled a wet cat more than a fierce Hiver Warrior drone, with water splashed over just about every square inch of the bathroom. As her brain finally finished restarting after the cold reset she realized that the whole bathroom was filled with wet confetti, wet streamers, wet balloons and a very happy, if also wet, energetically bouncing pink pony. With a deep, guttural growl Rainbow Dash stomped her hoof into the floor.

"Pinkamina Diane Danger Pie!"
> With Chaos
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sword of Equestria: A Sword of the Stars II Crossover



Chapter 7: With Chaos


Silence fell over the three ponies in a confetti strewn bathroom in a small cottage on the edge of the dark and foreboding Everfree forest.

'A deadly silence', Dash though as she eyed the unfazed pink party pony known as Pinkie Pie, 'soon to be formerly known as that is', with a burning fury in her eyes, her face red from anger.

“Ooh, Charades! I love this game!” The pink pony in question was bouncing up and down happily, Managing to laugh in the face of physics by not slipping once on the slippery and soapy floor. Physics was not amused but after having to deal with for to many years of Pinkie Pie completely disregarding it and hurting it's feelings in the process, it had very much given up on caring.

Stopping right in front of the rainbow maned mare she ceased her hopping and put a hoof under her chin. Squinting her eyes and considering the situation for a few seconds her face lit up victoriously. “Oh Dashie you're making this too easy! You're doing a perfect impression of Twilight when she tried to understand my Pinkie Sense! But that's funny; you never met her, not to mention you weren't even there or even born. Well the old Dashie was there of course but you're not her, I mean you're as close as I could find in the whole universe to the old Dashie who was there and you look like her and you have her cutie mark and- Ooh! Maybe you share her brain! Okay maybe not her brain but like her mind or something like that time Princess Twilight cast that spell- oopsie you weren't supposed to know about that but that doesn't matter, its not like it can happen twihmp-.”

With what was quickly becoming the norm with Pinkie Pie, a hoof -cyan in color this time- was valiantly putting itself on the line to save the ears of the ponies in hearing distance of the bubbly and energetic pony. With the tsunami of words temporarily held at bay, Dash could hear the soft laughter coming from Fluttershy. Just like the warm bubble bath had soothed her sore muscles and itching wings, the heavenly laughter soothed Dash’s anger at the pink pony for ruining the moment, and probably any action she would have liked to get. It was hard for anyone to stay angry with the amount of kindness radiating off of the yellow and pink Pegasus and even Physics decided to call it a day on trying to keep Pinkie Pie in check.

Defeated Dash exhaled long slow breath through her nose and let her hoof-impersonating–a-cork fall down to the ground. Walking over to the towel rack she grabbed a towel and starting drying her hair off and looked over at Pinkie Pie smiling. “So what's up Pinks?”


0ooOoo0


Apparently quite a bit was up as Pinkie Pie energetically tried to convey through a combination of charades, props, an impressive orchestral piece and perhaps one of the most complex and expertly choreographed song and dance numbers Dash has ever seen. 

'Admittedly, my bar for those kinds of things is set rather low. Never really was a fan of musicals but I'm sure that Hiver production with the… cheese counted right?' Dash shook her head trying to get the thought out of her head,  muttering under her breath, “what is it with Hivers and cheese?” Her breath condensed into a cloud of vapor into the cold of the night as they waited on the train platform for the midnight train to Canterlot.  

Next to her Fluttershy, packed away behind multiple layers of clothing and scarves, let out a soft ‘eep’ as the single light they were waiting under flickered on and off for a split second. Rolling her eyes a somewhat more moderately clothed Dash merely hopped from hoof to hoof to keep the blood flowing and her extremities warm. While they were for all intents and purposes full blooded Pegasi and according to the short report from Twilight were meant to be able to stand up to the cold better, the planet was quite a bit colder than the standard temperatures that SolForce had on their ships. Combined with the fact that their bodies were still somewhat new then having a few layers of clothing over their already insulating fur helped quite a bit in regulating their still unfamiliar internal temperatures.

Pinkie pie on the other hand was enjoying the cold and foggy breath far too much to be bothered by a silly thing like Temperature. Much like it's close cousin Physics, all Temperature could do in the face of Pinkie was to go sit in a corner and cry.

“Say Pinks, I've been meaning to ask;” Rainbow Dash said as she continued to stomp her hooves, “when we were back home-,” she frowned and corrected herself, “I mean back in Sol and I first met you, you were human right. I mean sure you had that freaky bouncy pink hair and… stuff but you still looked human. How'd you do it?”

With a giggle Pinkie jumped down form the top of the station building where she had been playing Pony Pirate of the seven star clusters as 'lookout'. “Oh I didn't do that.” She said innocently as she did a little cartwheel, jumping up and down with joy after landing a perfect somersault at the end.

Scratching behind an ear Rainbow Dash frowned and looked at Pinkie, “I don't get it, you were definitely a human and now you've turned back into a pony. I though Twilight told Shy that we were stuck this way permanently.”

“Yiperoony Looni!” Pinkie Pie sang as she hopped up and down in front of the two bundled up mares coming to a sudden stop right in front of Rainbow Dash. With barely contained mirth twinkling in her eyes she whispered conspiratorially on the Pegasus’ ear, “my special somepony helped me!”

Raising an eyebrow Dash cocked her head to the side a bit, “So what, like your boyfriend- or I guess in your case coltfriend or marefriend right? Like a powerful unicorn?”

A soft muffled sound came from Fluttershy but without any further sound or movement Dash figured she was just clearing her throat.

Pinkie tapped a hoof to her chin. “Well Dashie, if he was a pony then I guess coltfriend would work but that's why I call him my special somepony because he's not a pony! Of course,” she winked at Rainbow, poking her in the ribs with an elbow “He's as good a kisser as any colt I've met-“

Another muffled eep came from the bundled up pony next to her but with Rainbow Dash getting more and more interested in the details of Pinkie Pie's mystery friend she brushed it off and failed to see Fluttershy trying to lean in closer to the conversation. 

“-and let's just say the rest of him isn't bad either! I especially love his big yellow c- Oh hay they train is here!"

With a squeak Fluttershy fell to her side, stiff as a board as Pinkie Pie pointed into the distance at the light from the approaching train.

With the spell broken a worried Dash noticed Fluttershy struggling to get back to her feet, mostly from the sheer mass of the bundled clothes keeping her warm. Quickly moving to Fluttershy’s side the worried blue Pegasus helped her back to her feet. “Hay, you okay there Flutters? Wow, you feel a bit warm, you're not coming down with something are you?” she said as she was unconsciously hovering a few feet of the ground flitting from one side to the other of the blushing pony.
“No- no I'm okay Dash it's just that um- Pinkie was telling about her special somepony and well um-“ relief flashed over her face as the train stopped at the station and with a flurry of words and yellow feathers she dashed on to one of the train carts, “ohlookthetrainI’lljustgoinandfindaspotokay.”

Scratching her head and trying to piece together what just happened, her train of thought was rudely derailed by an airy ‘Dahling!’ behind her. Turning around she saw a very large heap –almost a small hill really- of boxes and bags stealthily floating in a light purple aura towards the train. Leaning a bit to the left she managed to spot the sources of the voice and presumably the floating bags.

A strikingly beautiful alabaster white mare with expertly curled purple hair made her way up the station steps while managing her bags. On her flank was the image of three blue diamonds that immediately lit the spark of recognition from Dash's talk with Fluttershy earlier in the day.

“Oh my gosh Councilor Ra'irtei!” Dash said as she rushed over to give the unicorn mare a hug. 

“Captain!” returned Rarity with somewhat of an accent “I am so glad to see you are back on your hooves as it were darling. We were ever so worried after the landing,” giving Dash a last squeeze she added before letting her go, “and please, call me Rarity.” 

Pushing the Captain back to and going over her with a critical eye the Councilor gasped dramatically; “Good heavens Captain, I never thought it would be possible for your hair to get even messier. This is a crime against fashion!” Rolling her eyes but breaking the hold on her just to be on the safe side, Dash put just a tiny little step between her and the aspiring fashionista before she got any ideas into her head. "My hair is fine and don't even think about offering my a makeover you crazy bird lady." A mock gasp and a smile was all part of the little routine between Rarity and Dash.

“All aboard!” yelled a brown coated pony leaning out of the engine car at the end of the tracks. Rarity quickly piled in her floating belongings with seemingly practiced ease and followed closely after into the passenger's car. Dash followed as well and settled in next to Fluttershy with a somewhat reluctant Rarity settling in next to the energetic Pinkie Pie. While they were good friends, even as a human, being near Pinkie was very much a danger to any coiffure. 

For the first hour or so of their trip to Canterlot the four ponies exchanged their experiences they've had so far since landing on Equestria and sharing what information they have been able to pick up both from the locals and their interactions with the Princesses. It was after all the Sun Monarch herself that had summoned them to Canterlot. Pinkie though was particularly unhelpful even if she had access to the most information. Rainbow Dash was sure it wasn't out of spite or malice but rather that there was a reason for it, even if it was just a Pinkie Pie reason.

Pinkie did however correct them here and there, most notably when they were talking about the level of technology of Equesrtria or lack thereof. It turns out that Equestria and her two sister colonies had managed to maintain a relatively stable technology base since the unification of the three pony races. Pinkie didn't have all the details of the history but she did share an old folks tale called hearth warming eve and how ever since then with the two princess sisters at the head of the government they were able to keep the ponies and nature in balance enough to both advance to basic interstellar travel without turning Equestria into a second Earth and even advance further in the last couple of centuries.

While interstellar travel was still a relative rare event there was at least a monthly trip to and from the sister colonies and the ability for Princess Luna or  Empress Cadence to return to Equestria on short notice.

This news did lift Dash's spirits a bit as there might be a chance that the Indomitable might see space yet but Rarity was a bit more pessimistic on that idea. The Morrigi have had more experience with landing and taking off of planets than any other race and their cruisers were in fact designed to be atmospherically compatible. According to her even the great Morrigi Dreadnoughts were never designed to make planet fall and getting one off the ground would be a monumental task even with the technology available.

After an hour of talking, the day's events caught up to Dash and even Fluttershy was starting to nod off. With an exaggerated and less than lady like yawn Rarity poked Pinkie in the side, “Oh my goodness but just look at the time! It is dreadfully late and I really should be getting my beauty sleep, don't you think so too Pinkie dear?”

With an innocent smile Pinkie shook her head from side to side, “You don't need beauty sleep silly! You're already like super duper beautiful.”

“That's very kind of you to say dear but I think we should both get some rest,” she looked at Pinkie and motioned her head over to the Captain and Fluttershy, “if you know what I mean.”

Pinkie scrunched up her face in concentration and with sudden insight her face lights up. “Ooh I get it! But,” again her face takes on a contemplative form, “I didn't know you liked me that much Rarity, or that you were into girls! Though I guess with you Morrigi only seeing males every now and then with them being Travelers and all I can see how you’d want to spi- eep“

With a yank Rarity pulled Pinkie's tail -and the mare attached- out of the seat by her mouth, releasing it and smiled at Rainbow Dash and a very tired Fluttershy. “If you'll excuse me Captain, I'll go see Pinkie to her bed, alone and I'll be in my bunk, alone.”

As Rarity dragged Pinkie to the back of the cart Dash could hear a harsh whisper from Rarity, “I don't want to bed you Pinkie, I just want to give those two some privacy,” before disappearing into the next car.

She could have sworn she heard a sad ‘aww’ just before the door slammed shut.

With a sigh Dash pinched the bridge of her nose –a rather impressive feat with hooves- and laid back in her seat, closing her eyes. 'Sleep does sound pretty good right about now', she thought. A soft nudge from next to her though brought her back to wakefulness from her near sleep. She looked at Fluttershy and right into those deep crystal blue eyes of hers and it felt like her heart stopped beating and promptly took up residence in her throat. Seeing the bags under Fluttershy’s eyes though, and feeling her own eyes having grown heavy with weariness, she smiled and planted a small kiss on the doe eyed Pegasus next to her.

“It's okay Shy,” Dash said, almost reading her mind, “I'm tired too so we should get some rest before we get to Canterlot since it'll be a few hours till we get there.”

A small whine, almost like a little puppy whose food bowl got taken away came from Fluttershy and her lower lip started quivering.

A barest hint of a mischievous smile played at the corner of Dash's mouth as she put a wing around the Pegasus next to her, pulling her in close against her body. “Doesn't mean we can't cuddle right?”

A content 'yey' replaced her whine as Fluttershy snuggled into the soft feathery embrace of the lightning blue Pegasus next to her. 'Best. Feeling. Ever.' Dash's heart sang as she contemplated how things could get any better.

“Awwwww”

Buck you Murphy.

Slowly looking back at the previously closed doorway with a snarl on her face she saw for a split second two very apologetic faces, one white and one pink, before they quickly disappeared as the door closed again.

'Much better', Dash thought as blissful sleep overtook her, with a warm yellow Pegasus snuggled tightly against her.


0ooOoo0


Despite not having slept a full eight hours the group of four ponies were nevertheless bright eyed and excited when they stepped off the train at Canterlot Station a few hours later. With relatively little fanfare a large group of guards were waiting for them at the station to escort them directly to the palace; it seemed that the news of their arrival, on the planet in general and in Canterlot specifically, had preceded them and a significant crowd had gathered in and around the station.

'Sentient beings really are all the same, no matter the race.' Dash thought with a smile as she regarded what few ponies she could see in crowd of ponies on the other side of the guards.

Rarity, having a very sharp eye for architecture, was keen to point out how the Equestrian architects were able to integrate very sophisticated technology with classical styles. Dash wasn't sure if this was part of the original Colony plan to try and keep the natural beauty of the world intact as much as possible but from what she could remember from history lessons the state of earth after the wars and the Hiver attack had to have influenced the design decisions. The praise from Rarity was also quite surprising since the Morrigi females were masters of architecture and especially the art of hiding technology making it nearly invisible if you didn't know what to look for. 

The castle, while perhaps not quite as impressive and big as some of the buildings on the major Morrigi worlds, earned an especially critical praise from Rarity. She assured them that it wasn't the size that mattered, but rather the technique behind the construction and she was very impressed. With the normally planet bound females responsible for all the architecture and construction, including the beautifully designed and built Morrigi 'war yachts', Dash knew that such words were indeed high praise.

Arriving at the castle proper and with the crowds of ponies outside the large reinforced wooden gates the majority of the guards resumed their duties while the group, escorted by a singular solar guard, entered the huge structure. Marveling at the ornate construction, most of it dating back at least a millennium, Rarity was beside herself as she rushed unladylike from statue to archway. "Oh my goodness, just look at these designs! And these furnishings! Oh and will you look at these murals!" Looking around she spotted Pinkie admiring a glass stained window depicting a strange chimera like creature with various bits and pieces of different creatures and quickly dashed over to her. In a dramatic fashion she placed a hoof on her forehead and fainted into the bouncy pink pony.

Dash just rolled her eyes and shook her head as she walked past the fainted white and purple mare. "You're such a drama queen Rarity, it's good to see some things never change."

With a huff Rarity picked herself off of Pinkie, the Earth pony managing to pull of a nearly expert impersonation of a fainting couch, and haughtily resumed her admiration of the architecture and murals. "Well, I am sorry I have at least some appreciation for the stunning art and architecture. How do you suppose they managed all this with out, you know, opposable thumbs?"

From an adjoining room to the corridor they were walking through a voice piped up "Actually the anatomy of Earth ponies are really quite interesting, especially their hooves. They're very malleable, more so than Pegasus or Unicorn hooves, allowing them to pick up and hold tools like hammers and paintbrushes relatively easily."

Rainbow Dash lifted an eyebrow and peered into the room, nearly smacking her face right into that of Twilight, or more accurately, the book on Equestrian Histories vol. XI she was holding in her purple and pink magic aura in front of her. Peering out from behind it she gave a bright smile and closed the book, replacing it in one of the nearby book shelves where it was removed from. Turning back to Rainbow Dash she gave her a quick hug; "Captain! It's so good to see you up and about." Releasing the Pegasus she motioned for the party to follow her, dismissing the guard.

"So Twilight, any idea what the Princess called us for? Not that I don't mind seeing everyone, or the Princess for that matter, it just it sounded serious..." Rainbow trailed off as she looked at the worried expression on Twilight's face.

Continuing down the sunlit hall, various colored lights playing of the walls and murals from the stained glass windows positioned high up, Twilight had a contemplative look on her face; "I'm really not sure Dash, the Princess has had me catching up on Equestrian history, especially on the Elements of Harmony, ever since she returned from the last visit to the Indomitable," she looked at Dash with a deep worry in her eyes, "she said there were Zuul on the ship." 

With a slightly worried smile Dash just shrugged at Twilight; "Don't worry Twi, we sorted them out. The Princess told me she was sure she killed all of them and I got a few of the vermin myse-"

"Dash, you know what happened at Geidi Prime," Dash could hear the worry creep into the Unicorn's voice, "if just a single one of them survives it could infect an entire world, the ponies won't stand a chance!"  Twilight was visibly shaking by now with tears in her eyes. "We can't do anything about it either, our weapons are useless to us and we don't even have a ship and- and-" she closed her eyes and bit her lower lip, trying to fight back the tears. "I'm just being stupid again..." 

Suddenly Twilight felt two strong hooves embrace her pulling her into a tight hug, quickly followed by another pair, and another. She opened her eyes to see all her friend around her, even the timid Fluttershy, embracing her. 

Dash was the first to speak, continuing to hold twilight as she did, "we know Twilight, and I'm worried too."

"It's okay to be worried," cooed Fluttershy.

"Yea Twiley," chirped Pinkie Pie, "those Zuul are big meanies!"

"Besides," said Dash as she held Twilight out to hoofs-length "you should have seen the Princess, man she blasted one of those larvae things right out of the air with her horn right as it came at me, it was awesome!" She punched the air to punctuate her point.

Fluttershy shyly let go of Twilight and half hiding behind her mane looked at Twilight encouragingly; "and I saw the weapon Dash had when she rescued me, the- the Princess did some something to to make it work for ponies."

Rarity patted Twilight on the shoulder. "You must have noticed that these Equestrian ponies are far more technological advanced than they like to appear. I am sure that they would be able to easily handle a tiny little infestation without even getting their hooves dirty."

"Ah hate to interrupt your little get together girls but the Princess is mighty anxious to see us." Came the familiar southern drawl from the end of the Hall. The orange head, mostly obscured by the iconic brown Stetson hat and long blond mane, was all that showed of the Chief Engineer as her head poked out of two tall and ornate doors that presumably lead to the throne room.

"Hay AJ! We'll be there in a sec." Dash said as the Earth pony gave a nod and disappeared back into the throne room. Looking at Twilight she gave a worried smile, "You okay then Twilight, we're good?"

Wiping away the last of her tears Twilight gave Dash a heartening smile, "Yes Rainbow, I'm okay; sorry for freaking out like that."

Dash waved her hoof and rolled her eyes. "Please Twilight, you're in the psi corpse, if anyone has a right to freak out about Zuul it's you guys."  Motioning with her head towards the large doors she turned to start off with her crew, 'more like friends', in tow. "Let's go see what has the Princes's panties in a bunch."

"Dash you're so silly," piped Pinkie, "the Princess isn't wearing any clothes." A gasp from Rarity at both their comments merely earned another eye roll from Rainbow 'more like the most awesome friends ever'.

As they entered the throne room what immediately struck Dash as odd was just how different it was to everything else she had seen since she left the ship and at the same time how familiar it was from before they arrived on this strange planet. Instead of the expected archaic and royal throne room she was expecting to see, the entire hall was a dizzying array of holographic displays, consoles and communication arrays that rivaled the command centers of most colony worlds back 'home'.

In the center of the room was a giant circular holographic tank with what looked like Equestria in the middle and her lone natural satellite orbiting around her. Dash could also make out quite a few pony made satellites indicated on the display including a ship still on approach to the planet and what looked like shipyards and a station in orbit.

On the other side of the holographic tank Applejack and Princess Celestia were waiting for them. The Princess looked on the surface to be calm but Dash could see the nervous twitch of her ear and the shadow of a frown on the monarch's face. Spending as much time as Dash had around aliens she knew that certain displays of nervousness were universal and that no matter how well trained, they were hard to hide. With a soft glow around her horn the Princess shut off the Holographic display and motioned for the ponies to follow her. As she turned to leave the holographic tank slowly retreated into the floor while a panel with the same look of the floor covered the projectors and that once the tank was flush with the floor it was almost impossible to make out the faint circular outline.

"Thank you for coming my little ponies, I realize the summons came at a late hour but it could not wait. I expect my sister Luna to be here within the hour." Looking at Rainbow Dash she gave a genuine smile. "It is good to see you are whole Rainbow Dash, particularly after the ordeal with those distasteful vermin."

Rainbow dash just shrugged; "It takes more than a few baby Zuul to bring down someone as awesome as me."

A vigorous nod from Flutterhsy wholehearted agreed with that assessment. "It's true your Highness, I've seen the scars," she pauses with a hoof to her chin, "actually, I've stitched up most of them too."

A nod from the princess and a smile confirmed that the princess would not dream of doubting Fluttershy for a second. "I  am afraid I will have to be brief so we can finish before my sister ar-" She paused as her ears twitched and rotated towards the spot right next to her. A sudden large puff of purple smoke, materialized next to her and with an audible pop, dissipated revealing a very out of breath dark blue Alicorn. A thin film of perspiration glinted off her coat and she took a few deep breaths to calm her ragged breathing. The ever composed Princess Celestia merely regarded the panting Alicorn with practiced calm before addressing her "Luna dear, did you teleport down from Orbit... again?"

While her words would indicate she was displeased, Dash could tell Celestia's tone contained more concern than disappointment for her sister, perhaps even a tiny spark of pride. The feat of the Princess of the Moon teleporting down from orbit, a good few thousands of kilometers straight up was not lost on the rainbow maned Pegasus either.

Having managed to bring her breathing under control, the Lunar Princes merely huffed and pointed her nose up and away from her solar counterpart in a display that mimicked -but that could never hope to surpass- the haughty indignation that Rarity could display. "Please dear sister, this meeting is important and I would not be late for it. Besides, "a mischievous smile crept into her haughty display of affront, "I did not 'Teleport from orbit'; the Relentless was much farther out than that."

With a sigh that sounded well worn and only slightly on the exasperated side -probably due to the practice- Celestia just shook her head and smiled at Luna, giving her an affectionate nuzzle. "Please take a shuttle next time Luna, It is dangerous teleporting such great distances of space, regardless of you affinity to the stars."

Nuzzling back Luna acquiescent with a nod "You worry needlessly, but I will try and keep your wishes in mind."

A nervous cough from Rainbow Dash broke the two royal sisters out of their bonding moment causing Luna to blush profusely and Celestia to merely smile at the ponies arrayed in front of her. 'Wow,' Dash though, 'she's good.'

Celestia pointed an upturned hoof at her sister. "I believe you have all met Luna? I asked her to use her rather unique ability to introduce herself in your dreams and help where she could as her physical presence was needed on New Trottingham." A chorus of nods answered and she turned to her sister, "I am happy that you are here but your quick arrival will make the next introduction... eventful."

Before Luna could process a reply there was a bright flash of light  right in the center of the group and the sound of, strangely enough, fingers snapping together. When the light dissipated and Dash was able to see again the strangest though naggingly familiar, creature was standing triumphantly in front of them. Dash was able to identify only a few of the seemingly random creature parts arrayed on the creature but the sunglasses and a Hawaii shirt seemed, strangely enough, to be from Earth.

"My my, back already?" Stretching with load popping sounds emanating from every joint the creature dropped the sunglasses a bit and looked around until he spotted Rainbow Dash peering at him. "Mon Capitan! It is so good to see you again! Why after that last dreadful little incident I wasn't sure you'd make it here in one piece." Dash just stared at him with a blank stare on her face while he scanned the rest of the room until his gaze settled on Luna. "Oh dear, hello Luna, you're not supposed to be here for another half hour." He stared intently at his watch-less arm.

For Luna though it took a few more seconds for her brain to catch up with what her eyes were seeing but once she recognized the figure in front of her she sprang back with a gust of wind from her powerful wings and blue sparks started flying off her horn. In a very load and very royal sounding voice she boomed; "Discord! How dare thee show thy face! I will not let thee escape retribution a second time!"

Discord, rightly fearing for limb -but not life- did his best 'hay look I'm a statue again' impersonation by not moving so much as a muscle while everypony else had their hooves over their ears to protect what little hearing they had left. The Royal Canterlot Voice was definitely not an inside voice. 'I'm pretty sure it isn't even an outside voice,' Rainbow thought ruefully as she wondered if the ringing in her ears would ever stop.

Celestia meanwhile had face-hoofed hard enough that if Luna had not used the Royal Canterlot Voice everyone in the caste would have heard it and probably some outside as well. Luckily for her everyone was far too distracted by the sudden turn of events to notice the momentary slip in decorum. Composing herself and slowly walking over to place herself between Luna and the new arrival she softly laid a hoof on Luna's shoulder. "Luna, dear, I know we talked about this and I know you blame Discord for taking Pinkie away, but-"

"He bewitched her! He cast a spell and took her from us! He-" Luna's voice cracked as she fought back tears, "he took away the only other pony who remembered her- who remembered my-" she stopped, unable even to say her name.

Slowly, carefully and most surprisingly; silently a roitious pink mane peeked out from behind the nervously sweating Discord -a Draconequis as Dash would later find out- followed by two large blue eyes. "Luna?" Squeaked a tiny voice, "please don't be mad at my little Discord."

Walking in a strikingly uncharacteristic slow and non-bouncy manner up to Luna, Pinkie Pie put her hooves around Luna's neck and hugged her tightly. "I know I left you guys so soon after the old Dashie passed away but she wouldn't want you to be all frowny mcpoopy face," Pinkie moved her hooves to hold Luna's face and stared into her downcast eyes, "now would she?"

Luna's shoulders slumped in defeat, her tensed muscles relaxing and a small sniffle was all that was heard as she turned her eyes to meet Pinkie's. With a small smile she nodded at Pinkie. "You are right Pinkie, she would not want me to be sad, particularly now that you are back. I had missed you so."

"Aww I missed you too Princess Moonbutt!" The energy quickly returning to Pinkie she hopped over to a visibly relieved Discord and wrestled his head down to her level. "And I want you to meet my special somepony! I know you already know him, but you know him as 'Previously Lord of Chaos and only recently reformed friend of Fluttershy' Discord and not the 'You are my very special somepony' Discord or the 'I have a very special mission for you' Discord or even the 'Ooh do that thing with your big yellow claw' Discord although I hope you don't know him as that because that would be very awkward and OH! The mission!" Letting go of the slightly blushing Discord she hopped over to Rainbow Dash and stared into her eyes. "Princess Celestia has a very important thing to tell us!"

A small cough drew everyone's attention back to the Princess "Pinkie Pie is right, I have very distressing news and an even heavier burden to lay on your shoulders." The crew of the Indomitable was disconcerted to see the normally serene monarch look genuinely concerned as she moved up the steps to her throne to address the ponies. "Captain Rainbow Dash, many years a go I asked Discord to use his unique abilities to find new bearers for the Elements of Harmony. The reason for this is unfortunately quite grave."

Lighting her horn with her signature glow she activated the Holographic tank once again, the floor opening and the projectors uncovering as it raised from the floor. The ponies in front of her turned around as the lights in the hall dimmed  while the Princess continued to address them. "I had sensed a presence many years ago, slowly approaching from deep space. How it came to be here in our little corner of existence we do not know but I believe you are quite familiar with it." The tank lit up and a once beautiful creature, now twisted and warped by it's own disfiguring sciences and cold greed for immortality was displayed in the holographic tank. What was once a pure and innocent creature of Muur, a creature who would sooner end it's own life before taking that of another, a child of the Liir, was now a colossal space dwelling creature without a soul or a heart, an enslaver of worlds and a murderer of billions. 

Rainbow Dash forced down the lump in her throat.

"A- a Suul'ka"
> With Winter's Mind
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sword of Equestria: A Sword of the Stars II Crossover



Chapter 8: With Winter's Mind


Celestia, being the ever wise co-ruler of Equestria and her sister colonies, didn’t give Rainbow Dash and her friends much chance to panic; rather she forged ahead. “You are correct, when my sister had the misfortune of coming into contact with the-,“ a frown quickly flashing over her face at the memory, “the creature’s  mind she was able to glean a few invaluable facts before the connection was thankfully broken.” She looked over to Luna who was doing her best to get a very foul taste out of her mouth.

With a last 'bleh' from the moon princess, Luna walked over to the holotank. “Yes, it was quite unpleasant. What I was able to gather though,“ tapping a few keys various parts of the creature’s ‘space suite’ lit up in red as she continued, “was that it was quite wounded; something about upstart apes or some such.“ Taking a moment she leveled a knowing smile at Rainbow Dash before she continued. “What did bother me was that the damage was very old and that the creature had been recovering for a very, very long time.” Directing all her attention at Rainbow Dash this time, a small smile tugged at the corner of her muzzle. “Does this creature look like someone you know?”

Taking a closer look at the ghostly image displayed in the holotank Dash's eyes grew wide as she recognized it for what it truly was; “What the hay, that’s Bloodweaver! But that doesn't make any sense, we fought it just a week ago and you mentioned it’s been here for years?” She groaned as her brain tried to wrap itself around the convoluted time line. “I hate time travel; it never ever made any sense in the science fiction stories I used to read as a kid and it’s like, even less cool in reality.”

“Oh please, time travel is easy!” Discord said with a flourish, curling his tail around Rainbow Dash and tapping her on the head with the fluffy part to punctuate his point. He smiled and proceeded to inspect his nails idly on his claw hand, “I mean really! You’d think with all that has happened to the human race in the last hundred odd years you’d be a little bit more open minded Mon Capitaine.”

Before Dash could form a retort Pinkie bounced up to Discord with a stern look on her face “Be nice Discordy,” her voice softening and gaining a rather unnerving sultry tone, “or mama Pinkie won't make you something sweet later.” 

Discord blushed a little at this and started scratching Pinkie on her chest, “oh, only if you special Pinkie Promise my little cupcake.”

A giggle from Pinkie Pie and her slightly darker complexion made it obvious she was blushing as well. “Oh Discord, you know I can’t do that in public!”

“Oh gag!” Rainbow Dash motioned with her hoof in her mouth, sticking out her tongue. “Get a room you two.” 

A light cough from Twilight mercifully drew everyone’s attention away from the doting couple. “Actually time paradoxes and time travel, while a staple in both pre- and post Hiverfall fictional literature, is all usually based in solid scientific theories and observations of causality. In fact it has been theorized that wormholes, as used by the Hivers, or even the node lines we use for traveling faster than light could potentially be used to travel through time. The disappearance of the Sare Mera itself could potentially be an example of this and would be a very interesting source of study and theo-“

The cyan hoof of the captain waving in front of the excited Twilight –and a discreet giggle from Luna- finally got her attention and a light dusting of pink tinged her cheeks form her normal violet complexion. “Right, Suul’ka, everyone’s going to die, danger of epic proportions."

Discord smiled brightly at Twilight, “Oh my dear filly don't mind them but I never realized you were so interested in time travel, even if you are completely off the mark!” Tapping a claw on his chin a light bulb suddenly appeared above his head and lit up, that he promptly plucked from its invisible resting point and popped into his mouth with a crunch.  Sliding up to the sputtering Twilight he looked around conspiratorially and whispered into her ear; “I can show you a delightful little time travel spell if you want.”

A midnight blue wing quickly separated the two and with a glare from Luna Discord casually backed off –that is hastily and with some level of panic- before regaining his air of nonchalance. “Really Luna, the old Twilight was always going on about how I simply refused to teach her any fun spells -after she mellowed out that is.”

“Time paradoxes aside,” said Luna after she gave Discord a final glare and composed herself, “we are not in any immediate danger.” She tapped a few more keys, seeming to prefer the use of her hooves over her horn to manipulate the holotank’s controls as Celestia manipulated it before, and brought up a map of the local star cluster.

“However this Bloodweaver as you call him has decided that we are enough of a threat to set aside its recovery for the time being and focus on infecting some worlds in this star cluster with what it called ‘Zuul’.” A red overlay covered one third of the map, indicating where Luna believed the Suul’ka had set up base. “I believe this is where the first infestation is located,” a few more taps and a second, purple sphere covering another third of the stars lit up as well, “and here is the second.”

The impact of the princess’ gold encased hooves on the stone dais of the throne, though soft, echoed through the room and pulled their attention back to Celestia. "While finding new bearers for the Elements has always been our primary concern, we have not been idle since the discovery.” Making her way down from her throne she once more deactivated the holo tank, extinguishing the image and motioned for the ponies and deities alike to follow her out of the throne room. “In all actuality Twilight, the Element bearer, was the one who initially reignited the thirst to reach the stars in my little ponies hearts and minds,” shaking the misty eyed nostalgia off she smiled apologetically, “but that is perhaps a story for another time.”

As they fell in behind her they formed a loose group with Celestia, Discord and Rainbow Dash in front and the rest of the crew between them and Luna, who was still not comfortable with walking too close to the god of Chaos. Turning left at an intersection, Dash could sense with some relief that they were moving towards the outer walls of the palace complex. She glanced at the others and noticed the same claustrophobic looks on the faces of her friends and was glad to soon be outside in the open air again. All this talk of what was essentially an eldritch horror bearing down on them was getting to everyone.

“Twilight,” said Celestia, looking over to the lavender mare, “I believe you will be able to tell me the most of what information SolForce has been able to gather on these creatures?”

Twilights face lit up with the prospect of sharing with the Princess what she knew regarding the Suul’ka; “Oh we've been able to gather quite a bit from them in the last few months since the first attack,” She paused placing a hoof on her chin in thought, “although most of the work was done by an extremely accomplished archaeologist and xenobiologist going by the name of Erinys.” Closing her eyes for a moment she started reciting a passage memorized by heart:




“What is a Suul’ka, literally? From the Zuul religious and military perspective it is the ultimate weapon. Suul'ka are titanic cetacean god-kings ranging from 1300 to 2500 meters in length, dressed in armoured battlesuits fitted with a variety of conventional weapons and defenses, and additionally armed with immensely powerful psionic abilities, which can be used in both strategic and tactical play.

The literal translation of the phrase ‘Suul’ka’ in the Liir language is ‘Winter Mind’. Ka is a word with multiple meanings, including ‘breath’, ‘life’, ‘soul’ and ‘mind’. Telepathic communication is called kanayma, ‘souls joining’. Suul is literally “ice”, specifically the pack ice at the poles of Muur, the Liir home world.

The polar ice on Muur grows so thick that even a huge Elder’s back cannot break it. Suul is killing cold, suffocating cold, cold that shuts out life and breath, that deafens and stills all voices. The two terms knitted together refer to a unfeeling enemy, devoid of empathy and motivated by the ultimate in arrogant, whimsical cruelty.

Over the course of the last 320,000 years, over twenty Great Elders went mad on Muur, enslaved their people and force-marched them through a rapid industrial revolution in order to build a single high-tech battlesuit. Once this suit was complete, each Suul’ka teleported from the ocean of Muur into space. Within the teleport sphere was the Elder’s armoured body and many metric tons of sea water, held in a pressurized sphere. In vacuum this icy shell froze, and the first act of the new-born Suul’ka was to shatter the cocoon of ice and swim away into the void, to become immortal.

It is the nature of this icy re-birth, as well as their cold sociopathic personalities, which give the Suul’ka the title “Lords of Winter”. In the millennia that have passed since the first Suul’ka rose from the waters of Muur, they have traveled throughout the galaxy, teleporting from place to place to satisfy their curiosity, indulge their appetites, and wreak thousands of years of havoc on lesser beings.”  –Erinys aka Arinn Dembo 




With a proud smile borne from reciting a well memorized passage to the last letter, Twilight opened her eyes but her smile died quickly when she saw the effect it had had on the now very bleak Luna. With a slight pang of guilt and a whole heap of sympathy she paused as the group moved pass her and stopped the younger Princess with a quick hug to console her. There are few minds who would survive to stand up to the cold and cruel malevolence of a Suul'ka mind and those few that do, do not come away without scars. Luna was both very lucky to have lived to tell her tale and very unlucky to have had to experience the contact in the first place.

The warm and closeness from Twilight pressing herself against Luna in a soft embrace quickly brought the color back to her face and quickly threatened to add a bit too much. Resting her head in the hollow of Twilights neck for just a second longer Luna finally broke the embrace. "Thank you for understanding Twilight," she said in a voice slightly more gruff than she had intended.

Quickly catching up to the now stationary group they saw that they had arrived in front of a massive set of intricately carved wooden doors. A grand design carved into the dark hardwood depicting a long forgotten battle almost glowed from the combination of the lighting and the rich varnish on the wood. The griffin and pony figures on the towering doors seemed to be moving as if possessing a life of their own. Pausing at the doors for a second, Celestia seemed in deep though for a few seconds before she turned around and looked at the assembled group. "I know you all have more questions but for now, I would like to show something to you. Beyond these doors lies a refuge; a place where we can, if only for a moment, relax." Holding a hoof up to interrupt Rainbow Dash just as she was about to open her mouth she smiled kindly at her; "that is an order Captain." 

Turning around a brief glow of magic surrounded her horn and a line of light, thin at first but quickly expanding, appeared as the towering doors silently swung open. The two guard ponies flanking it looked ahead with the stoic resolve and near perfect discipline drilled into all guards. Rainbow Dash was once again impressed at the devotion the Princesses seem to garner from those around them.

With a sigh of relief Dash was happy to see that beyond the large ornate doors was a magnificently lush green garden, carved out of the side of the mountain the entire city was built on and more importantly perfectly clear blue skies overhead. In the garden proper it seemed that the concentration of animals, from tiny insects to small fuzzy mammals and the particularly vocal singing birds were much higher than even at Fluttershy’s cottage. It made the entire garden feel alive with the constant sounds of life and seemed to invigorate everyone, particularly the normally quiet canary yellow pony.

"Oh my goodness," exclaimed Fluttershy, suddenly alive with energy and excitement, "this garden is simply beautiful! Oh and just look at all these cute little animals. Don't you just think this place is the best Dashy?"

A snicker from Applejack was quickly silenced by a burning glare from the Pegasus at the pet name. Not wanting to let slip just how relieved she herself was at having the blue sky overhead again and outside of the stuffy palace, Dash switched from a glare to a disinterested look and merely shrugged noncommittally. "I guess it's alright, Flutters." She threw a quick look at Applejack, daring her to continue snickering but the chief Engineer merely whistled as she stared out over the edge of the cliff in the direction of Ponyville and the clearly visible Indomitable parked right on the outskirts like a giant mechanical beached whale.

Walking through the garden along a short stone pathway leading form the palace Dash marveled at the amount of life around her. A bubbling brook, the water originating from somewhere towards the mountain side sang it's own song as it rolled over pebbles and fell down tiny waterfalls. Various trees, some short and bushy while others tall and sparse all seemed to fit together just right, order seemingly coming out of the chaotic life around them. Fluttershy was fluttering from one spot to another, her wings buzzing excitedly and hovering her like a hummingbird.

Looking back Dash noticed the group breaking off into smaller groups to continue with previous discussions. Twilight and Luna headed off towards some statues discussing the nature of their respective experiences with the Suul'ka, Pinkie Pie and Discord disappearing with a snap of his claws presumably deeper into the garden proper and Celestia motioning for Rarity to join her and Applejack as they discussed the state of the Indomitable and what could be done to get her back into space.

This of course left Rainbow Dash to chase off after Fluttershy as she headed deeper into the garden as well. Quickly realizing how fast Fluttershy can be, Rainbow Dash chased after her but lost sight of the distracted yellow Pegasus. Figuring that she had followed the small stony path and that she would eventually come upon Fluttershy, Dash followed it herself at a more demure pace while taking in the sights and sounds around her.

Not paying much attention to where she was going anymore, Dash was rightly surprised when a yellow Pegasus shaped canon ball came crashing into her and depositing the both of them in a tangle of hooves and feathers at the side of the path on the soft green grass. Shaking her head to get the tiny Fluttershys flying around her head to go away she looked down at the brightly blushing -and normally sized- Fluttershy extraditing herself from the heap they landed in. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry Dashy! Are you Okay? I didn't hurt you did I!? Are your wings Okay?" The quick barrage of apologies and questions of concern was brushed off by Rainbow Dash as she proceeded to get back to her own hooves.

"It's okay Fluttershy, I'm fine see." Rainbow proceeded to open and close her wings to demonstrate that she was, indeed, okay. "What was that all about anyways, I saw you head into the garden and next thing I know you come at me like a cannon ball. Did you see a bee or something?"

Her receding blush quickly returned to colored her cheeks crimson. "Oh no, it wasn't anything like that, although bees are kind of scary." She looked down and pawed at the ground, looked back up and quickly hid behind her mane again. "I was- I was following this butterfly and I kind of ran into Discord and Pinkie Pie," Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow as Fluttershy tried to hide even more of herself behind her mane and mumbled softly, "they were um, kinda making out."

Rolling her eyes Dash blew a raspberry "Oh common 'Shy, it's just making ou- wait," narrowing her eyes and giving Fluttershy a piercing stare and noticing her half extended wings, "what do you mean 'kinda making out'?"

From the heat coming off of Fluttershy's blush and the constricted squeak she made told Dash enough for her to gain a feathering of pink on her own cheeks and her wings to flutter and stiffen at her sides. "Oh. My. Gosh. I am going to kill those two with my own bare hooves! i don't care if they're both immortal aliens, at least one of those two is still under my command!" Extending her wings to take off, in the heat of the moment forgetting that she hasn't even had a proper flight lesson, she was stopped by a slight tug on her tail from her yellow Pegasus companion.

Turning around quizzically she looked at Fluttershy and what she saw stopped her dead in her tracks. The normally shy and demure pony had a peculiar glint in her eyes, one that immediately grabbed Dash's attention. Her eyes had a fierce burning passion in them that quickened the cyrulian Pegasus' heart and made her wings shoot out, fully extended. "Oh."

Slowly turning around, not breaking eye contact for even a split second she moved closer to the smoky eyed Fluttershy, who herself was moving closer and closer to the captain, her captain. A second away from their tips finally touching an ear splitting siren rang out loudly from the direction of the castle and a second later the clopping of hooves on cobble stone coming closer broke the two apart as they looked around in confusion.

A faint "oh come on" could be heard in the distance.

With a rustle as she sped past the bushes and trees lining the garden path, Twilight came cantering into sigh, panting and out of breath. Panic clear in her eyes and her voice, her hair was a mess as she came to a skidding stop in front of the interrupted duo. "The Zuul! Here in system!" the out of breath Unicorn gasped, her legs giving out from beneath her as she fell in a tired heap on the side of the path.

The two Pegasi quickly rushed to Twilights side and behind them the sound of a set of hooves and a set of mixed appendages arrived through the brush as Discord and Pinkie joined them. "Wowie that's a loud siren!" Pinkie said, putting a bit more volume behind her normally bombastic voice as she held her hooves over her ears. Spotting the collapsed Twilight the bubbly pink mare joined her friends around her. With a worried look she knelt down by her friend "Twily! Are you okay?"

"She's fine Pinks," Dash said placing a hoof on her shoulder, "she just needs to catch he breath." Turning towards the path she spotted Luna gliding towards her dark metallic regalia glinting as it caught the sun. With a gust of wind from her powerful wings the Princess gracefully landed in front of the group, her hooves clapping against the cobblestone path. She had a determined look on her face but Rainbow Dash could just make out the lines that indicated that the monarch, as powerful as she was, was worried as well. 

'So much for us not being in any immediate danger,' Dash thought.

"Rainbow Dash, we require you and your crew's assistance." Her voice was pensive and her ears were flicking nervously. "My sister and dear Applejack has already set off towards the Indomitable but we do not have much time." Turning towards Discord, the features on her face becoming less transparent but the strain in her voice making her feelings clear. "Discord, could you, please take us to the ship?"

Pinkie, knowing Discord far better than anyone else jabbed a hoof into his side before he could so much as utter a word. A halo, flickering on and off intermittently appeared above his head, "What?" he said with feigned innocence. A pointed stare from his mare-friend merely caused an eye roll from the god of chaos, "Oh fine," he lifted up his clawed hand and looked around, a conductors hat replacing the halo on his head as the halo started enlarging. "Alright everyone, please keep all hooves, fetlocks, tails and other appendages inside at all times." He snapped his claws and the halo quickly enlarged and engulfed them as they disappeared with a pop.